In the Heat of Night Hell Awakens
by mrytale2-5
Summary: AU but Emily did face Doyle and 'die' before returning. Yet another secret threatens to tear Emily's life apart as a serious of crimes in Dallas leads the team to question if she is the unsub.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – **

**Friday 12****th**** November 2010**

Emily sat on the sofa, Sergio curled up in a tight ball beside her, and the music was playing softly throughout the apartment as she reached out and picked up the glass of red wine. Garcia had wanted her to go out with her and JJ but Emily had cried off, wanting a night alone, to relax, to gather her thoughts after getting back from yet another horrific case. The glass had reached her lips as slowly she opened her mouth, closing her eyes as she let the smooth red liquid slip in, but then the shrill ring of her doorbell followed by a loud knock drew her out of the reverie she had put herself in.

"Can't I just have one night?"

Emily sighed as she put down her glass of wine and walked towards the door as the loud knocking continued.

"Ok I'm coming!"

Instinctively Emily stopped and looked through the peep hole, immediately her head dropped as she unbolted the door and opened it.

"Colonel."

Emily stood to one side as her tall imposing father filled the doorway.

"Emily."

"Do you want to come in?"

Although this was the last thing that Emily wanted, her upbringing took over as she made the polite remark.

"Sorry I can't stay Emily, I just need you to..."

Emily sucked in her bottom lip as she watched her father's strong arm reach behind him and push forward a young girl that was the spitting image of Emily, just a little shorter.

"...look after her for the weekend, I've got some business to attend to in D.C and I know that you are not on call."

Emily smiled as she reached out to take the girl's hand but she kept her head bowed low and refused to take it.

"Of course, go on in Milly and make yourself comfortable."

The girl walked past Emily, a small bag slung over her shoulder, Emily waited until she was out of earshot before she moved in front of her father, an eyebrow raised as she lifted her hands and waited for an explanation.

"It's just for the weekend Emily, the boarding school is closed because of a water leak."

"Ok she can stay, but I hardly know her Colonel."

"She is your sister Emily, just don't leave her alone with any alcohol ok?"

Emily frowned, her mouth open as she stared hard at her father.

"She's only fourteen years old!"

"Goodbye Emily, I'll be back on Sunday evening."

Before Emily could reply he had turned and walked down the corridor, Emily shook her head and closed the door, making sure that it was bolted firm before she wandered back into the apartment, suddenly remembering her father's words and the open bottle of wine on the coffee table. As she walked in her eyes flew to the sofa but only Sergio occupied it, then she saw the untouched glass and bottle of wine, breathing a slight sigh of relief before she started scanning the room to try and find her half-sister. Seconds later Emily's brown eyes found the small figure, sat on the floor by the window, her knees brought up to her chest with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, the straight dark hair cascaded down her back as Emily walked towards her, pausing briefly to turn the music down a little before she sat cross legged on the floor next to Amelia Dowson Prentiss.

"Hey."

Emily spoke softly, careful not to touch her sister, she could sense how emotional she was and didn't want to tip her over the edge.

"I'm glad that it's not just me that he's like that to."

"No the Colonel likes to treat both his daughters equally appallingly!"

Emily smiled as the young teenager lifted her head up and Emily felt her heart pang as she saw the tears escaping from Milly's eyes.

"Are you ok Milly?"

The girl nodded her head before she buried it into her knees and Emily could tell from the way that her back was moving that she was sobbing, hard. Emily shifted her body closer and placed her hand on Milly's back, gently rubbing it as she rested her head on top of her sister's.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around that much Milly, work has been kind of hectic."

Milly kept her head low but moved it so that her voice wasn't muffled by her knees.

"It's ok Emily, I understand, it's not a great family to be a part of, at least you came to my mother's funeral."

Emily sighed deeply, a year ago Milly's mother, her father's second wife, had died of an accidental overdose of prescription medication and her father, instead of comforting his young daughter, had packed her off to a boarding school so he could continue his work with the CIA.

"So how much trouble are you in? I take it that there is no water leak at school?"

Emily grinned as Milly brought her head up but the tears kept streaming down her face.

"Oh come on Milly, nothing is ever that bad."

Emily moved her hand from Milly's back and reached up to wipe the tears away from the girl's face.

"He hates me Emily, he can't even look at me, I'm sorry you shouldn't have to deal with this, I'll just go through to the spare bedroom."

Milly went to stand up but Emily firmly put her hands on her shoulders and forced her to sit down on the floor once again.

"I don't think that I've ever shared with you how much trouble I got into when I was your age! Come let's go and keep Sergio company and I promise you Milly that the two of us are going to have a great weekend!"

The smile on Emily's face put Milly at ease as she nodded her head and stood up, following her older sister towards the comfy looking sofa.

* * *

**WEDNESDAY 26****TH**** OCTOBER 2011**

Emily hadn't even had the chance to kick her boots off when the knock at the door summoned her to turn around.

"JJ I know that you're only trying to help but please I'm too tired to go out tonight."

Emily quickly opened the door, expecting to see the blonde agent who had just dropped her off but her heart sank as she saw who was standing there.

"Colonel."

"So it's true, you are still alive."

"Sorry I didn't get around to telling you, I've been busy at work, but I guess that you knew that anyway."

Emily stood with her arm across the door, she really couldn't deal with her father tonight.

"You and me both Emily."

"How's Milly?"

"That's why I'm here Emily."

Emily frowned as her father reached into his jacket and pulled out a brown file, the CIA emblem embossed on it.

"Colonel?"

"Milly went missing four months ago, the day after her 15th birthday, I've no idea of where she is and I've got to go back to Afghanistan tomorrow."

"Missing? She's 15 years old, didn't you issue an Amber Alert?"

"Amelia has got herself involved in a few issues Emily, especially after you 'died', I cut off her money and expected her to come running back home."

Emily felt her skin bristle as he father emphasised her death and his utter contempt for both of his children.

"Well you could hardly expect her to come running back to you."

"Don't worry Emily, I know how much the two of you loathe me, I just thought that you would want to know about your sister."

Emily grabbed the file and quickly closed the door, wondering what on earth had happened to her sister.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – **

**SUNDAY 30****th**** OCTOBER 2011**

The file was sat on the table, Emily had been through it countless times since Wednesday evening but now it had to be moved, to make way for the white dinner plates, carefully she picked the file up and placed it on the large unit that housed her books. Her eyes caught sight of the photo of herself and Milly that they had taken when she had been dumped by the Colonel nearly a year ago, Emily sighed, so much had happened in the last twelve months, she picked up the photo and moved it to a higher shelf. Her mother held the Colonel in great contempt, although she had kept his surname as it gave her a political advantage, she had tolerated his affairs all of their married life but then he had fathered Milly and Elizabeth Prentiss knew that it was one discretion too many and had quickly divorced him. Emily shook her head and quickly walked back into the kitchen, she didn't need to look at the clock to know that she only had moments to get herself organised before her mother descended on her for their Sunday night supper.

* * *

Elizabeth smiled at her daughter as the door opened.

"Evening mother."

Emily returned the smile as she stood aside to let her mother enter, pausing briefly to gently embrace her and kiss her softly on the cheek before Emily shut and locked the door.

"Supper won't be long, I've just got to finish cooking the salmon and dress the salad."

"That's not a problem, I'll open the wine and watch you work!"

Emily smiled and shook her head as she walked through to the kitchen, after she had returned from Paris, he identity restored Emily had also fostered a new relationship with her mother, both of them older, wiser. But as she stood in the kitchen, gently frying the salmon Emily found that she couldn't concentrate on her mother who was talking about her current assignment based in D.C.

"Emily!"

Elizabeth quickly reached over and moved the pan off the heat.

"Oh sorry mother."

Emily sheepishly took a hold of the pan and flipped the salmon fillets over, checking that they were still edible before she transferred them to the plates, internally cursing herself that she had failed to compartmentalise her thoughts about her missing sister.

"Right I think that everything is ready now."

Emily picked up the two plates and quickly carried them through, anxious to get the meal over with so that she could think some more about what she was going to do about Milly.

"I'll bring the salad."

Elizabeth sighed slightly as she picked up the wooden bowl before she followed Emily through and sat opposite her daughter. As soon as she sat down Emily mentally kicked herself, the brown manila file was on the unit, low down, easily visible from the dining table, trying hard to concentrate on something else Emily grinned and picked up her fork. Elizabeth picked up a piece of her salmon and brought it to her lips but her eyes were watching her daughter and the obvious internal struggle she was facing, it was then that Elizabeth spotted the brown file.

"I thought that you hadn't any active cases on at the moment."

Elizabeth nodded towards the file as she picked up her glass of wine, taking a long sip as she watched her daughter trying to compose herself.

"Emily?"

Emily sighed deeply as she herself reached for her glass of wine, swirling the liquid around before she walked heavily over and picked up the file, dropping it onto the able so that the CIA emblem was visible to her mother. Emily sat back down and crossed her legs, placing her hands on her knees, studying her mother's reaction.

"Your father has been to see you?"

Emily slowly nodded her head, surprised to see how calm her mother was.

"He wants you to go on a CIA mission?"

Emily just couldn't stop it as the laugh escaped from her mouth.

"No you're safe on that count mother. No the Colonel wants me to find someone for him."

Elizabeth frowned as Emily spat the words out, she knew how Emily felt about her father as the feelings were completely in tune with her own.

"A terrorist?"

Emily shook her head firmly as she picked up her wine glass again, quickly emptying the contents, her voice barely a whisper as she spoke.

"Amelia, Milly. She's the one that is missing mother."

Elizabeth opened her eyes wide as Emily spoke, processing what her daughter had just said.

"But she's just a child!"

Emily nodded her head before she reached across and picked up the file, pulling out Milly's last school photo before sitting it on the table.

"She's only 15 and has been missing for four months."

Emily's voice was still quiet, tinged with emotion.

"Good god Emily, what is your father thinking of?"

"About himself and his career as usual."

Emily's voice quivered even more, she stood up and paced around the table.

"What are you going to do Emily?"

Emily turned and looked down at the floor, using her tow to pick at something on the carpet.

"Emily no matter what your feelings are of your father you need to put them aside, it's not Amelia's fault and she obviously needs help, she's a missing child Emily."

Emily nodded her head, she had already made up her mind that she needed to track her sister down but it was reassuring that her mother agreed with her.

"She thinks that I'm dead."

"Oh darling!"

Elizabeth quickly got up off her chair and walked over to her daughter, wrapping her arms around her as Emily dropped her head onto her mother's shoulder.

"I'm sorry mother."

"You've nothing to be sorry for Emily, if you need any help in finding Amelia then please ask, she deserves better than your father."

Emily nodded her head and clung tightly to her mother.

"Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – **

**Tuesday 1****st**** November 2011**

Emily looked out of the window as the plane taxied down the runway at Dulles International airport, she had gone into the BAU yesterday and had headed straight to Hotch's office, luckily they had no new cases so he had allowed her to take the rest of the week off, so here she now was sitting on the plane heading to Dallas. Emily leaned back into her seat as the plane took off, she hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night as she had analysed the file yet again, the last transaction Milly had made before the Colonel had cut her money off was in Dallas, the city where her mother had grown up in and Emily knew that it was as good a place as any to start.

* * *

It was dark as Emily headed out of her hotel room, she had to admit that the work her father had done had been thorough but it had all been concentrated on Milly's failures rather than where she might be. According to the file Milly had been suspended from school four times in the three months before she went missing, one for drinking alcohol on the premises and the other three were for drug and alcohol misuse, according to the school file one more infraction and they were going to ask Milly to leave. Emily knew that Milly would not have shaken those vices off, especially if the Colonel had cut her money off. Emily sighed as she walked out of the hotel, her experience at the BAU told her that Milly was only going to her herself into more trouble and if she needed cash, Emily shook her head she didn't want her thoughts to go there.

* * *

**1:30am Wednesday 2****nd**** November 2011**

"Do you want a job?"

"Sorry sugar you're not my type."

"Surely that depends on the job I'm offering?"

The prostitute stopped and turned to look at Emily, she wrapped her arms around her naked midriff as Emily smiled and nodded towards the diner that was still open opposite them.

"I'm going to get a coffee, please, will you join me?"

The prostitute shrugged her shoulders, the night was quiet, work wouldn't pick up for another couple of hours yet and for some reason she did not perceive the tall brunette as a threat, her curiosity was well and truly raised.

"Yeah ok sugar."

Emily clasped the over-sized mug tightly as she looked at the woman sitting opposite her. The woman was roughly the same age as Emily, a couple of inches shorter and slightly skinnier if that was possible, she was white, actually bronze would be a more suitable description, either out of a bottle of from a sun bed and she had shoulder length bleach blonde hair that was curled tightly into ringlets.

"So this job?"

Emily smiled as she lifted her cup of coffee, taking a quick sip before she sat it back down.

"I'm looking for someone."

"Oh a cheating husband!"

Emily shook her head as a small chuckle left her mouth, she held up her left hand, turning it around so that the woman could see that there was no ring adorning it.

"I'm Emily by the way."

"Well it's good to meet you Emily, I'm Sally to my friends, Charkayla to my clients."

Sally smiled broadly as Emily who nodded and brought her purse onto the table.

"My sister is missing, I believe that she may be in Dallas, she needs money."

"Sugar there are a lot of people on the streets who want to remain missing."

"But she's only 15 years old."

Emily swallowed hard as she spoke, her eyes blinked quickly as she tried to keep the tears at bay.

"The streets are nowhere for a kid to be, what's her name?"

Emily reached and took another sup of her drink as she composed herself, opening her purse she placed a photo on the Formica table.

"Amelia, Milly, I think that she'll be using Dowson if she needs a surname."

"She's a pretty girl, looks a lot like you sugar."

The smile on Sally's face was sincere as Emily nodded in response.

"So what's she into?"

"Definitely alcohol and prescription drugs but she is probably into the harder street stuff now, she's been missing for four months."

Sally raised an eyebrow at Emily's quick response but appreciated her honesty and candour.

"You a cop?"

"FBI."

Emily pulled out her identification and placed it on the table, watching carefully as Sally picked it up and examined it.

"So how come you haven't pulled in your buddies to find her then sugar?"

"This is personal, I got into some trouble not that long ago, hurt my closest friends. I've only just got back and am earning their trust again, then I find out my sister is missing, I need to find her discreetly, not just for her but me too."

"Ok I get that, so what exactly do you want me to do sugar?"

Emily puffed out her cheeks, the way that she had planned this night to go was not happening but she just had to make the best of it, for Milly's sake.

"Can you ask around, find out if anyone has seen her? People will probably talk and tell the truth to you rather than me. Take the photo, I've got plenty more, but please don't tell her that I'm looking for her, just get in contact with me."

Emily pulled out a business card and held it up as Sally handed over her FBI credentials in exchange. Seconds later Emily pulled out a series of bills and placed them on top of Milly's photo.

"I don't need your money sugar."

"Please, I'm keeping you from your work."

Sally shrugged her shoulders and picked up the photo and money, she wasn't going to argue, it was money after all.

"But I'm doing this as a friend, not a client ok?"

Emily smiled as she nodded her head.

"Ok, thank you Sally."

"It's a pleasure Emily, now you take care and I'll be in contact soon."

Sally smiled broadly as she stood up, placing the items Emily had given her into her gold handbag, quickly she finished the rest of her drink before she waved her hand at Emily and walked out of the diner to complete her night's work.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N – A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed and alerted this story so far, I know that the team haven't entered but they will do soon and things will heat up for Emily, your thoughts mean a great deal to me so please read on...**

**Chapter 4 – **

**Sunday 6****th**** November 2011**

Emily sat in her car, taking a breath before she started the engine, she was back at Dulles International, late on the Sunday afternoon, it had been a hectic five and a half days and now Emily's mind was torn. She was exhausted, physically and mentally, the call of her bed was strong, but it was Sunday, supper with her mother, this time at the Ambassador's house and to be honest Emily needed to sound her out about her discoveries in Dallas. Her mind was made up as she finally started the engine and left the airport car park, it was going to be a long night but Emily was getting used to functioning without a lot of sleep.

* * *

Emily frowned as went to open her door, the front door to her mother's house was already open and the Ambassador was standing there, a kind smile adorning her face.

"I was expecting Marla."

Emily gave a faint smile as she shut the car door and walked towards her mother.

"It is her granddaughter's birthday so I gave her the day off."

"So what everyone says about you being a cold-hearted..."

"Emily!"

Emily grinned as she looked at her mother but she could see that the comment had not caused offence.

"You look tired, when did you land?"

Elizabeth put her hand on her daughter's elbow as she led Emily through to the kitchen and the two of them sat at the table which already had food placed upon it. Emily gratefully sat down and looked at her watch, quickly doing the calculations in her head.

"Forty eight minutes ago."

"I take it that you didn't get much sleep while you were there."

Elizabeth looked seriously at her daughter as she pushed the plate of cheeses and a bowl of bread rolls towards Emily.

"I'm ok mother."

Elizabeth nodded her head but was relieved when Emily started to eat, following suit she picked up a roll and placed some salad onto her plate, the room fell silent for a good five minutes while they ate.

* * *

"So do you want to talk about it?"

Elizabeth pushed her plate away slightly and sat back in her chair, looking carefully at Emily and how exhausted she was. Emily nodded her head as she reached for her glass of water and took a long sip before she leant forward, resting her elbows on the table and ran her fingers through her long hair.

"Well I didn't find her."

"Surely that isn't that much of a surprise, your father used his contacts and didn't get anywhere and you were only in Dallas for a short amount of time."

"I know, but I still don't know for certain that she is even in Dallas, it's all just so frustrating, if only I'd known straight away."

"But you didn't Emily."

Emily sat up sharply at her mother's curt tone, she went to open her mouth and give a smart retort but then realised that it wasn't worth it.

"I found out that she isn't in any of the hospitals or the morgue, I gave out numerous pictures and spoke to quite a few people but nobody admitted to seeing her."

Emily bowed her head and looked down at her plate which still held a half eaten bread roll.

"Have you told your team?"

Emily shook her head as she brought her head up, her eyes red as she fought to keep the tears at bay.

"They could help you."

"But they don't know about Milly, it's just another secret that I've kept from them."

"I'm not going to push you Emily, I'm just trying to offer you suggestions."

"Sorry."

Emily spoke quietly as she pushed her chair back and stood up.

"Emily I didn't mean to upset you, please don't rush off."

Elizabeth quickly got up and walked around the kitchen table, reaching up as she placed her hands on Emily's shoulders, the action was too much for Emily as the tears finally escaped from the corners of her eyes and she dropped her head onto her mother's shoulder.

"Oh Emily!"

"I've got to go, I need to go home and sort things out."

Elizabeth shook her head as Emily tried to walk away.

"Stay here tonight, you need to rest, clear you head ready for tomorrow."

Emily went to open her mouth to protest but then realised how tired her body was and how comforting it would be to spend the night in the family home.

"Come on let's go through to the office, you can show me what you found and if you want I can offer some suggestions, especially if you are adamant about your friends not helping?"

"Thank you mother."

Elizabeth smiled as she led the way to her large office, stopping in the hallway to pick up Emily's bag and all her notes on her sister's disappearance.

* * *

"You spoke to a prostitute?"

Emily nodded her head as her mother looked at the photos Emily had shot while she was in Dallas.

"From reading Milly's school file it sounded like she has got a drug problem, now that the Colonel has cut off her money she'll need to get it somehow."

"The poor girl, but you didn't see her on the streets?"

"No Sally said that a lot of the younger girls work out of motels and use internet sites, but there are so many to check, it's scary."

"What about the drug dealers?"

"They were a little bit more difficult, I don't exactly look like someone they want to talk to, I look like a FBI agent!"

Emily laughed as she remembered the precise words Sally had used to describe her, 'you look like a cop, you're pretty, female and your clothes are expensive, those guys are going to run from you'.

"Sally said that she would speak to them for me."

"You trust this...woman?"

Emily just shrugged her shoulders and picked up a photo of Milly.

"As much as I can, I paid her well."

"So when are you planning on going there next?"

"Friday night, as long as we don't have any new cases come in."

"I could always have a word, Erin owes me a few favours."

Elizabeth smiled but Emily shook her head.

"No, thank you mother, but I want to keep this quiet, if I don't go on a case then it will only arouse suspicion."

"As you wish but if there is anything I can do then please let me."

Emily nodded her head and smiled warmly at her mother.

"I know, but just talking to you helps."

"Good, now come on let's leave it for now, you need some rest."

Emily rolled her eyes but she knew that it was true, she desperately needed some sleep otherwise a team of profilers would quickly notice that something was amiss.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N – I know that people are waiting for the team to appear well they do in this chapter, as for Milly you may have to wait a little longer, I don't want to rush the story, give the game away too quickly that's not really my writing style! On the up side I have just finished writing chapter 8 and sketched out chapters 9 & 10 so there is a definite story line and one that will be kept to. Thanks to everyone who is alerting and reviewing this story I hope that you are not disappointed...**

**Chapter 5 –**

**Tuesday 8****th**** November 2011**

Emily chucked another completed file onto the tray on the edge of her desk, but she had misjudged the distance and the power she had used as it skidded off the top and went crashing to the floor.

"Great."

Emily muttered under her breath as she pushed her chair back and walked around her desk, bending to pick the file up, her mind elsewhere as she suddenly realised that the file was no longer there.

"You looking for this?"

JJ smiled warmly as Emily pulled herself upright and felt her cheeks redden slightly.

"Oh yes, thanks."

"You certainly got some power on it!"

"Hmm yes, sorry about that."

Emily reached out and took the file, quickly placing it in the right position before she went to turn to walk back to her desk but she stopped as she felt a hand on her elbow.

"Emily?"

"Jen."

"Is everything ok? You seem, I don't know, quiet."

Emily smiled, she knew how hard it was to hide secrets from this team of profilers.

"Fine, I'm just a little tired, Sergio brought in a mouse early this morning."

"Eww and I thought that being woken up by Henry was bad!"

Emily managed a light laugh as JJ rubbed her elbow.

"Well I'd better get back to my mini mountain of paperwork."

"Ok Em but if you want a break to grab a coffee or something then you know where I am."

"Thanks Jen."

Emily smiled as she turned and walked back to her desk, getting her mind firmly on work as she picked up yet another file.

* * *

**Wednesday 9th November 2011**

Emily was stood at the break area, making her, actually she had lost count of the amount, yet another cup of coffee, lost in thoughts about nothing in particular. But then Emily's cell beeped loudly, causing her to fumble horribly.

"Oh crap!"

The coffee went everywhere except for in the mug as Emily put the pot down and reached for her cell with her right hand and paper towels with her left, concentrating on the mess she had created rather than the message she had received. But then her eyes caught sight of the photo in the message and she immediately dropped the paper towels and clasped her cell with both hands.

"Emily?"

Emily heard the male voice but didn't respond as she was still staring hard at the photo as a pair of hands reached around and started to clear the rest of the spillage up. It wasn't until Emily let out a breath, the photo of the injured female was not Milly, that she noticed the person standing next to her.

"Oh sorry Dave, I've made a bit of a mess."

"Is everything ok?"

Dave spoke quietly as he turned to face his friend, he knew that she had taken some time off unexpectedly last week and had obviously just received some news that wasn't good.

"Oh yeah, just a friend having a bit of trouble and I'm trying to help her out."

Emily smiled as she quickly closed the message and put her cell away.

"Anything I can help with?"

"No, no I'm good thanks."

"Well if it changes you know where I am."

"Thanks Dave, will do."

Emily smiled once again as she picked up her coffee and walked back to her desk, mentally counting down the hours until she could return to Dallas and praying that the team wouldn't get called away on a case.

* * *

**Friday 11****th**** November 2011**

Emily shut her eyes and a said a silent 'thanks', it was nearing the end of the week and soon she would be able to escape. Earlier in the day Emily had received an email from her mother, she had booked Emily on a flight leaving Dulles at 6:05pm, which was great news and Emily knew that she had enough clothes in her go bag to see her through the weekend.

"Hey Em."

Emily quickly opened her eyes and looked startled at JJ who was sat, perched on, the edge of her desk.

"Oh hi JJ."

"You look like you need to get out, Garcia Morgan and I are all going out for a few drinks straight after work, why don't you join us?"

"Sorry I've already got plans, I need to leave as soon as possible."

Emily gave a faint smile as she looked up at the clock, knowing that any minute now it would be safe enough for her to leave.

"Oh, ok."

JJ frowned as she got up off the desk and stood in front of Emily.

"You'd tell me if something was wrong?"

"Of course Jen, it's just a family thing, you know what my mother is like!"

Emily forced the laughter out of her mouth and could see that her blonde friend was not convinced.

* * *

**12:18am Saturday 12****th**** November 2011**

Emily had been sat in the diner since 11:45, waiting impatiently for Sally, she was now on her second cup of coffee and now had a plate of pancakes sitting in front of her. As soon as Emily had landed at Dallas she had sent a text message to Sally and they had agreed to meet in the diner but because of the nature of her work there was no definitive time. Emily sighed as she picked up a small piece of pancake and chewed it thoughtfully, she had spent the early part of the evening ringing around the hospitals and morgue again but luckily she had drawn a blank.

"Well hello there sugar."

Sally beamed as she slid into the booth and sat opposite Emily, quickly eyeing the pancakes.

"Here you have them, I'm not hungry anyway."

Emily smiled as she pushed the plate across and signalled to the waitress to bring another cup of coffee over.

"Thanks."

Sally smiled as she quickly tucked into the plate of food.

"Busy night?"

Emily waited until the waitress had left them alone before she asked the question.

"Can't complain sugar, how about you?"

"Well it's been kind of quiet, I made myself busy making some phone calls."

Sally nodded her head as she reached down and rummaged around in her small clutch bag before she brought up a crumpled piece of paper.

"Here this might help you."

Emily frowned but gratefully accepted it and unfolded it to reveal a list of websites and addresses.

"It's all I could get this week but I've got a few more people to speak to."

"It's great Sally, thank you."

"Not a problem sugar."

Sally smiled as she finished her coffee and went to stand up, Emily quickly followed suit, the two of them walking silently until they were outside the diner.

"Well I'd better get back to work but you've got my number sugar."

"Thank you Sally, take care out there."

Emily smiled as she passed several notes to Sally who nodded and accepted the cash before she bent across and kissed Emily on the cheek.

"I always do sugar."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – **

**11:28am Monday 13****th**** November 2011**

"Uh oh that does not look good."

Morgan spoke quietly as the sound of Garcia's heels reverberated around the bullpen but she kept her head bowed low as she quickly made her way up to Hotch's office, closing the door behind her.

"Well it has been nearly two week."

JJ puffed her cheeks out as she sat on the edge of Reid's desk and looked up at Hotch's office, feeling the rest of the team's eyes join hers.

"I'd better ring Will and give him a heads up."

JJ turned away and jumped down off of Reid's desk walking towards her office to make the phone call as she watched Garcia and Hotch talking animatedly in Hotch's office.

* * *

Hotch walked out of his office and nodded as Garcia walked past him towards the conference room to set up. He waved his hand as Morgan, Reid and Emily looked up at him.

"Conference room now, get JJ."

Everyone nodded in response, grabbing their iPads before walking up and taking their seats around the table, the room silent until everyone was present and Hotch stood up at the front of the room.

"Dallas PD called an hour ago, they found the bodies of four women early this morning, a dog got loose at Cottonwood Trail and uncovered four shallow graves, all victims had gunshot wounds to the head."

Emily felt her heart pound, a bead of sweat quickly appeared a top of her right eyebrow. The photos of the four women were on the screen but their faces unrecognisable, any of them could be Milly but for some reason she did not believe that they were. Emily reached down and put her hands under the table, clenching her hands tight together. Sucking in her bottom lip Emily tried to keep her emotions in check, she knew that she couldn't say anything as it would tip her over the edge, instead Emily kept quiet pretending to focus on the file in front of her as Hotch continued.

"We haven't got any identities on the victims yet, but Dallas PD want us down there ASAP, we've uncovered his dumping ground so the sooner we can get down there and help the better."

"I'll run their details through our databases and also check missing persons."

"Thanks Garcia, right wheels up in thirty."

As soon as Hotch finished speaking Emily got up, quickly, walking straight out of the room, down the stairs, through the bullpen, not stopping until she was in the sanctuary of a locked cubicle. Shutting the lid before she sat down, her head bowed towards her chest as she reached up and covered her eyes, unable to stop the tears from falling.

"Is Emily ok?"

Garcia whispered into JJ's ear as the two of them walked out of the room together.

"I don't know Garcia, she's been really quiet the last week of so, I'll go and check on her."

"Good the last thing I want is to worry about is our ninja Prentiss while I have a stack load of work to do."

JJ smiled at Garcia's term of endearment for Emily but as she scoured the bullpen she could find no sign of her friend, the smile faded as she parted from Garcia and walked into the toilets.

* * *

Emily heard the door open, quickly she squinted her eyes tight shut and sucked in her bottom lip as far as it would go, concentrating hard on her breathing as slowly she got her emotions under control.

"Emily? Are you in here?"

Emily slowly released her bottom lip as she heard her friend's voice, she knew that she had to reply.

"I'm here."

"Oh, hey are you ok, you left rather quickly?"

Emily clenched her right fist and punched her right thigh, hard.

"Sorry, I'm fine, my stomach is doing a few somersaults, probably something I ate last night."

"Oh ok well I've got some ginger biscuits in my office if you need them."

Emily could hear JJ moving closer to the cubicle, she unfurled a bundle of tissue and held it to her face, trying to drain the moisture from her eyes.

"Thanks, I'll be out in a couple of minutes."

Ok I'll see you in a bit."

Emily held her breath until she listened to JJ's footsteps leave, heaving a large sigh as the door shut. Finally she stood up and rested her palms against the locked door, making the stern decision there and then that she had to leave her emotions there, locked away in the cubicle, she couldn't let Milly's whereabouts affect the investigations, not until she knew more details. Firmly Emily unlocked the cubicle, confident that she was now alone, but not confident enough to look in the mirror to check her appearance, instead she turned on the cold tap, running it for several seconds to ensure that it was ice cold before she stuck her hands underneath and splashed the freezing water onto her face.

* * *

**1:20pm Monday 13****th**** November**

Emily had sat next to JJ but hadn't said a word to her friend, instead the blonde had patted her knee sympathetically and offered her shoulder which Emily had quickly, and gratefully, accepted, falling asleep as the jet levelled off from its take off.

JJ looked out of the corner of her eye at her sleeping friend, she knew that something else was wrong but JJ knew that Emily would tell her when the time was right, not before. Suddenly Hotch appeared beside them.

"Garcia's got something for us."

"Huh?"

Emily quickly lifted her head up and opened her eyes, confusion reigned for a moment until JJ gestured towards the laptop opposite them and Garcia's image appeared.

"Oh thanks."

Emily feigned a smile and rubbed her eyes, listening carefully as Garcia began.

"Ok I've got identities on two of the four victims, Alison Lawrence 22 years old and Nicola Perkins 26, both of them had their prints on the system for solicitation."

Garcia took a break as she waited for the team to digest the information.

"So it looks like he is targeting prostitutes but we need ids on the other two victims to confirm that. Garcia have you got any photos of them?"

"Yes sir."

Garcia already had the information to hand as Hotch asked the question, two seconds later two photos took her place on the screen.

"Well he has a type, they could be twins."

Morgan opened his eyes as he took in their appearance, thin faced, tanned, shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Ok thanks Garcia, see if there were any links between Alison and Nicola and keep trying to get the other identities."

"Will do, Garcia out."

The screen went blank as Hotch looked around the jet.

"Dave, you and Prentiss go to the trail and look at the dump site. Morgan and Reid I want you at the morgue, JJ and I will set up at the station and start looking at victimology."

Emily breathed a sigh of relief as Hotch finished, the victims definitely didn't match Milly's description but that didn't mean that she was safe, Emily was just glad that she didn't have to go to the morgue, she wasn't sure that until she knew that none of the victims were Milly she'd be able to cope with that.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – **

**4:20pm Monday 13****th**** November 2011**

Emily stepped out of the vehicle and nodded to the police officer who was standing guard.

"Special Agent Emily Prentiss and Special Agent David Rossi."

The two of them waited patiently as the officer wrote their details down.

"If you follow the track up the hill you'll find the site, plenty of yellow tape around to give the game away."

The officer grinned as Emily nodded and walked quickly up the hill while Dave stopped and shook the officer's hand before following Emily. Emily put her sunglasses on the top of her head as she stood by the four dirt pits, silent as Dave stood next to her, both surveying the scene.

"Although this is a public trail, this isn't an easy spot to find."

Dave spoke quietly as Emily nodded her head before she replied.

"We'll need the results from the ME, to know how long the bodies have been left for, how long he has been hunting for."

"He won't stop though."

Dave wandered around the site and looked at the trees before turning his attention back to Emily.

"No I agree, if he is targeting prostitutes then he is picking easy prey and he won't stop."

"But he will need to find a new dump site."

"This will have angered him, he may well kill again soon."

Emily waved her hand around as she spoke, gesturing to the four dirt pits.

"And he'll make mistakes."

"Hopefully."

Emily sighed as she started to walk down the hill, determined to keep the conversation on the case, she had compartmentalised Milly to the back of her mind for the time being and she was grateful that Dave did not seem interested in any idle chat.

"Ok let's go and see if Morgan and Reid can help us with the time line."

Dave jogged down the hill as he caught up with Emily and climbed into the SUV.

* * *

Derek stood at the back of the room as the morgue assistant finished positioning the last of the four women in the room, Reid by contrast was already peering over the first body, his hands gloved as he focused in on their faces.

"I can see why you've had trouble identifying the victims."

Reid straightened up and looked at the ME as he strode in.

"Yes, shot gun blast to the face, from a close distance."

Derek winced slightly as he looked at the remains.

"The unsub would have got blood on him."

Reid stated it as a fact rather than a question as the ME nodded in agreement.

"Yes and they were moved after they were killed, the trail was definitely a dump site."

"The two that you have identified, do you know how long they have been dead for?"

Derek stayed at the back of the room, he could see for himself the damage the bugs and time had done and he had no interest in getting any closer.

"They were the two that had been in the ground the shortest amount of time. I'm waiting for an Entomologist to confirm time of death, sorry it may take a couple of days."

"Any progress on the other identities?"

"No but I've sent DNA samples off."

"Ok I'll get our analyst at Quantico to run them through our databases, we may well stand a better chance of getting a hit that way."

The ME nodded as Derek spoke before Reid finished looking at the bodies and rejoined them.

"As soon as I have a firm time and date of death I'll let you know."

"Thank you Doctor."

Reid smiled as Derek nodded, the two of them had gotten all they could out of the meeting and needed to rejoin the others to figure out what the next step was going to be.

* * *

**2:02am Tuesday 14****th**** November 2011**

Emily stood in her hotel room and stared out of the window, the day had flown by and Hotch had told them all to get a good night's rest before they regrouped in the morning but no matter how hard she tried Emily could not relax. Without thinking Emily picked up her purse and keys, locking her weapon and FBI credentials, along with Milly's file, in the room safe before she walked out and headed in an all too familiar direction. The night had a chill to it as Emily pulled her gloved tighter onto her hands but her pace was brisk and although it took her a good thirty minutes Emily knew that her cheeks were red as she slowed down and started to scour the streets for Sally. Although the diner was open Emily didn't want to go in, she wanted to keep this short, put her fears at ease before she returned to the hotel. Emily stopped in her tracks as a car slowed down, the passenger door opened and a pair of long skinny legs appeared, almost lighting up the night sky.

"Well hello there sugar, I wasn't expecting to see you tonight!"

Emily couldn't help but smile as Sally walked towards her, pushing the car door shut and completely ignoring it as it sped away, instead she embraced Emily warmly.

"Yes well I wasn't expecting to be here either, have you seen the news today?"

"No, I've been kind of busy."

Sally shook her head and slowly lost her smile as she saw the seriousness etched onto Emily's face.

"I'm here for work, four bodies were found this, sorry yesterday morning, four women."

"Oh I'm sorry sugar, is one of them Milly?"

"No I don't think so but we've only managed to identify tow of them and they were both known prostitutes."

Emily reached and took a hold of Sally's hands but the woman showed no reaction to the news.

"I've lost a lot of friends over the years."

"This guy is serious Sally, he's not going to stop until we catch him."

"Who were they?"

"Alison Lawrence and Nicola Perkins."

Emily took a breath and watched Sally nod her head in agreement.

"I knew both girls, they haven't been around for a couple of weeks but they are young, I assumed that they had moved a little bit more upmarket."

"I'm worried about you Sally, he's going to be annoyed that we've found the girls, he's going to take his anger out on someone."

Sally smiled as Emily squeezed her fingers.

"Yeah but sugar I'm a little bit too old for his tastes."

Emily went to protest but Sally shook her head firmly.

"I've been at this for too long sugar, I know how to keep myself safe, if you want someone to worry about then worry about that sister of yours. Maybe you ought to think about letting you friends know about her, things are different now."

It was Emily's turn to shake her head as she opened her purse and placed three fifty dollar bills into Sally's hand.

"Please be careful, I don't want to lose a friend."

"Ok sugar I will, but you think about what I said too."

Sally reached up and put her hands on Emily's shoulders, looking into her eyes she could see the confusion and sadness in them as she leant across and kissed Emily softly on the cheek.

"Now don't you go leaving without saying goodbye Emily."

"Wouldn't dream of it Sally."

Emily smiled as she turned and tucked her hands into her coat pockets, the long walk back to the hotel was just what she needed to clear her jumbled up mind.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – **

**6:45am Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

Emily stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror, she looked terrible, and didn't feel much better, the lack of sleep over the last three weeks were beginning to take their toll. Emily knew that there was no way that she could function today, quickly she placed two fingers down her throat before she managed to choke up the bile from her stomach into the toilet. Wearily she went back through and sat on the bed reaching for her cell to make the call.

"Hotch its Emily, I'm sorry, but I've just been sick."

"Hang on."

Hotch had hung up on her, just as Emily had anticipated, she counted to five before the knock at her door sounded, Emily staggered over and opened the door.

"Hotch."

"Prentiss you look terrible, do you need a doctor?"

Emily shook her head as she breathed towards Hotch, hoping that he would pick up the stench of bile.

"Ok look stay here and rest up, I'll check on you later ok?"

Emily nodded her head as she locked the door before collapsing on the bed, exhaustion finally taking her body over.

* * *

**8:10am Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

"Where's Prentiss?"

Morgan frowned as he sat down, immediately focusing in on Hotch.

"She's ill, so I've told her to stay her to stay at the hotel for the day, we can catch her up later."

Hotch's tone told them to move on, that it was time to get down to the case at hand.

"Ok let's go over what we know."

"He has been at this for some time, the location had been researched well and if it hadn't been for the dog, it might not have been discovered."

Rossi looked at Hotch as he finished but it was Morgan who spoke next.

"We need to know the last movements of the victims we have identified, how long have they been missing for, how long have they been dead for, is he keeping them alive or killing them straight away?"

Hotch nodded as he waved his hand at the door and it opened letting two male detectives walk in, he waited until the door was shut until he made the introductions.

"Detectives Logan and Sanchez from the vice squad, I want Morgan and JJ to team up with them and talk to the girls, find out all you can about the two identified victims and if there are any other girls that have gone missing. We're going to need to gain their trust if we are going to catch this unsub."

The team got up and greeted the two detectives before Morgan and JJ left the building with the two detectives.

* * *

**9:48am Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

Emily opened her eyes, her head buzzing as she turned over but then she realised that it wasn't her head that was buzzing and quickly picked up her cell.

"Prentiss."

"Is that Emily Prentiss?"

Emily sat up at the unfamiliar voice.

"Yes, who is this?"

"Stan Freund from the West Dallas Motel, you came in on Saturday asking if your sister had been here."

"Yes of course, you've seen her?"

"I think that she was here last night."

"Oh god, ok I'll be with you soon."

Emily cut off the call and headed straight for the bathroom, not caring if the water was hot or not as she stepped into the shower. Finally she had a lead on Milly and thoughts about the case instantly disappeared.

* * *

**1:24pm Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

Morgan and JJ were sat opposite Detectives Logan and Sanchez, all of them tucking into fries and burgers, the morning hadn't been entirely fruitless, with Logan and Sanchez able to garner information from some of the girls, narrowing down the time of Nicola's disappearance to five days ago.

"Sorry I've got to take this."

Sanchez quickly put his burger down as his cell rang, everyone else stopped eating and waited.

"Shit. We've got another one, female body, gunshot wound to the head dumped in Samuell Park."

"I'll let Hotch know and he can meet us there."

Morgan reached for his cell as he stood up, their fears that the unsub would strike again soon had just been realised.

* * *

**1:47pm Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

"Shallow grave, gunshot wound to the face, definitely looks like the work of our unsub."

Morgan sighed heavily as he watched the crime scene technicians clear the soil away from the body.

"I know her."

Logan's voice was low as he looked up and down the body.

"How can you tell, her face...isn't there."

JJ looked at him as Logan turned away from the victim and back towards JJ and Morgan.

"The legs, the handbag. Her name is Sally Rogers, works the streets."

Morgan nodded as he took a few steps away from the group and reached for his cell.

"Hey babygirl I've got a name for you, Sally Rogers a prostitute in Dallas, we've just found her body...yeah she also worked the streets so it might be worth checking the CCTV footage as well."

Emily sat on the motel room bed, only a few hours ago her sister had been there but now there was no sign of her. Stan, the motel manager, had said that she hadn't been there alone, a middle-aged man had accompanied her to the room which they rented for three hours. Emily's stomach churned again as she closed her eyes.

"Milly, where are you?"

* * *

**3:20pm Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

The door was always shut, sometimes she regretted the fact that she couldn't hear the hustle and bustle of the bullpen but then there were days, moments, like today, for which Garcia was eternally grateful for the fact that she worked alone, in a closed safe environment. Only two monitors were on, one had the arrest record, DMV photo and residential address of Sally Rogers, the other, the other monitor had the CCTV footage from the camera outside a diner in Dallas, the time line was stamped at 2:42am Tuesday 15th November 2011. It was that monitor that had Garcia's full attention, she had checked the feed several times but there was no mistaking the fact. Staring hard at the photo of the tall brunette Garcia reached for the phone and hit number 3 on her speed dial list but sighed heavily as the call went unanswered, with not even the voicemail picking up.

"Oh Emily sweetie, what have you done?"

Garcia stared hard at the screen once again, she knew that she had no choice in the matter as she reached for the telephone once again, this time the call was immediately answered.

"Hotchner."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – **

**3:25pm Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

"_Hotchner."_

Garcia took a breath, her hands were trembling as her shaky voice spoke over the phone.

"I've found the last time Sally Rogers was seen on the CCTV footage."

"That's great Garcia, it gives us a good timeline for the unsub, when was it?"

"2:42 this morning."

"Ok, he didn't waste any time then, can you send the footage over?"

Garcia paused briefly before she answered, she knew that she couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Yes of course, Sir?"

"Yes Garcia."

"Sally wasn't alone in the footage, she was talking to someone."

"Have you identified them?"

"It's Emily."

"Pardon?"

Garcia's voice had been barely a whisper, he had thought that she had said 'Emily' but surely he had misheard?

"It was Emily."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes sir, I've checked the footage countless times but it is definitely her."

The line went silent, Garcia didn't know what to say, she was already dreading the words that were going to come next.

"Ok I'll ring Emily."

"I've already tried, she's not answering."

"Crap!"

Hotch walked around outside the SUV, wandering far enough away so that nobody else could hear the conversation he was having.

"Garcia?"

"Sir?"

"Emily took some time off recently, I need you to find out where she went, if she's spent any time here in Dallas."

Garcia didn't answer straight away, she knew that the request had been coming and that everyone had noticed that Emily had not been herself lately.

"Garcia?"

"I'm on it Sir."

"Thank you and keep this quiet, don't mention it to anyone else yet?"

"Ok Sir."

Garcia spoke quietly as Hotch ended the call, turning away from the screen momentarily as she gathered her thoughts before she dug deep into her friend's private life.

* * *

**4:53pm Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

Emily didn't want to head back to the hotel straight away, her heart crestfallen at how close she had come to finding her sister. Luckily Stan had been useful, after a bit of cash had been handed his way, providing Emily with a few changes to Milly's photo, shorter hair and she was now sporting a nose ring. Sitting in the Starbucks nursing her espresso Emily tried to compartmentalise her thoughts, carelessly she had left her cell back at the hotel, so the one person she wanted to call and talk about what she had discovered she couldn't, and there was no way that Sally would be out at work at this early hour. Placing the empty cup on the table Emily got up and headed out in the chilly air once again, hoping to get back to her hotel room before the team noticed that she was gone.

* * *

**5:02pm Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

Garcia didn't know what she going to say as she waited for the call to be answered, she knew her friend, loved her for six years and after all she had been through with Doyle, she couldn't, hadn't, Garcia shook her head, she didn't know what to think anymore.

"Hotchner."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes Garcia, I'm sitting in the SUV, what did you find?"

"Uh Sir?"

"It's ok Garcia I understand, please just tell me."

"Emily has made two trips to Dallas recently, the first from Tuesday 1st November until Sunday 6th November, then Friday 11th November until Sunday 13th, she stayed at the Hilton on both occasions."

"Thank you Garcia."

"Sir, you'll..."

"Of course Garcia as soon as I've spoken to her and know what's going on."

"Thank you, I'll be waiting here."

Garcia took her headset off and swivelled her chair around, for the moment she didn't want to look at anything.

Hotch threw his cell onto the passenger seat and stared hard out of the front windscreen.

"What's going on Emily?"

Hotch reached across and picked up his cell once again, phoning the person who could quickly gather the team together.

"JJ I need everyone to meet in my hotel room in ten minutes...yes my hotel room...ok thanks."

Hotch got out of the SUV and walked into the hotel, running through what he was going to say to the team.

* * *

**5:25pm Tuesday 15****th**** November 2011**

Emily hadn't realised just how exhausted she was, the walk around Dallas had wiped her out and she wished she had resorted to using a taxi as wearily she swiped her card and opened the door to her hotel room.

"What?"

A frown immediately crossed Emily's brow as she Reid standing by her bathroom door, Rossi by the window, JJ was sitting on her bed, Hotch standing in the middle and Derek, he quickly closed the door and stood firmly in front of it, arms angrily crossed in front of his body. Emily had her mouth open slightly as she looked at Hotch who gestured for her to sit down but Emily shook her head firmly.

"Where have you been Prentiss?"

"Out for a walk, thought the fresh air would help."

Hotch frowned at the answer and crossed his arms before he resumed.

"Where were you last night at about 2:42am?"

Emily turned and looked around at everyone else, she saw the same look in their eyes as Hotch had and she just silently shook her head.

"Please Emily."

JJ's voice was quiet as she spoke, she tried to reach up and take a hold of Emily's hand but Emily moved her hands to the front of her body.

"There was another body discovered this afternoon, one of the vice detectives recognised her, identified her as Sally Rogers."

Emily closed her eyes and swallowed hard, it suddenly dawned on Emily that they thought that she had done something.

"What have you been doing in Dallas lately Prentiss?"

Emily shook her head and swallowed hard again, she could see it in their eyes, they suspected her and all she wanted to do was cry at the loss of someone who had helped her so much in the last three weeks.

"Prentiss you need to answer my questions."

Hotch spoke firmly but his cell rang giving Emily a slight reprieve.

"Hotchner...yes ma'am of course..."

Emily's hotel room fell silent apart from the occasional word from Hotch, Emily stayed standing up, staring hard at her boss.

"...we just need to account for her whereabouts...no of course not...a sister, no Emily hasn't said anything about a missing sister Ambassador."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – **

Suddenly everyone turned and looked hard at Emily, who could feel the tears in the corners of her eyes but she carried on looking at Hotch, ignoring everyone else.

"Emily?"

Hotch spoke firmly as he pocketed his cell, all Emily could do was to nod her head towards the room safe and Hotch quickly moved towards it.

"What's the code?"

"A88642C."

The tone was slow and steady, completely belying how Emily felt, as Hotch opened the safe and brought out the brown CIA file JJ noticed Emily quiver and quickly the blonde stood up and put an arm around her friend's waist.

"Come on Emily."

JJ helped a silent Emily to sit down on her bed as Hotch flicked through the file, Rossi and Reid had also moved over to look at it.

"She was helping me find her, that's why I was with Sally last night."

Emily's voice was a whisper, quiet enough for only JJ to hear as JJ rubbed her back sympathetically.

"Guys?"

Morgan knocked on the door as he spoke, quickly attracting the attention of Hotch who saw that Morgan meant for them to leave and allow Emily a bit of space.

"Ok Prentiss we'll speak to you later about this."

JJ nodded in response as the male members of the team left the room, only when the two of them were alone did JJ attempt to speak to Emily.

"Wow I had no idea that you had a sister!"

Emily laughed softly as JJ tried to make light of the situation, finally comfortable enough to allow her emotions to flow Emily reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Half sister, the Colonel's habit of sleeping around finally caught up with him."

"Colonel?"

"My father, I always had to refer to him by rank as a child and now I just do it to annoy him."

"So why are you looking for your sister?"

Emily reached up and wiped her eyes, taking a deep breath before she spoke.

"Milly is my little sister, she only turned 15 a few months ago, the day after her 15th birthday she ran away from boarding school, I only found out that she was missing three weeks ago and that she was thought to be in Dallas."

"Oh Emily why didn't you tell us?"

JJ's voice was full of emotion as she spoke, Emily shook her head as JJ wrapped her arms tightly around her friend and finally Emily allowed the rest of the tears to fall onto the blonde's shoulder.

* * *

"My room."

Hotch spoke firmly and Reid, Rossi and Morgan quickly followed him, the four men silent until they were behind closed doors once again.

"Did you know that she had a sister?"

Hotch's question was quickly directed at Rossi who shook his head before the older agent turned to look at Reid and Morgan but they too just shrugged their shoulders.

"Ok then let's divide this file up and find out what's going on."

* * *

Emily lifted her head from JJ's shoulder and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry."

JJ shook her head firmly.

"Don't be, I should be sorry about what happened earlier, us ambushing you like that."

"Well I guess that I have been acting a little strange lately, but come on an unsub?"

JJ tried to laugh but she saw the despair in Emily's face and she quickly frowned at her friend.

"The footage wasn't great Em, you were the last one to see the latest victim, you were handing her money and kissing her, even if you didn't kill her, what were we supposed to think?"

Emily frowned as she thought then she quickly stood up.

"Oh, oh no, you thought?"

Emily put her hand on her forehead as she realised that her team had thought that she had brought the services of a prostitute.

"Oh crap!"

"It's ok Em come on settle down."

JJ smiled as she got up and put her hand on Emily's elbow and the two of them sat back down on the bed.

"So why did your sister run away?"

Emily reached up and ran her fingers through her hair, she shuffled up the bed and propped herself up with some pillows while JJ kicked her boots off and sat cross-legged near Emily's knees.

"Milly was the result of one of my father's numerous affairs as soon as my mother found out she left him and he remarried but the Colonel isn't exactly an ideal father to have. Milly's mom died when she was 13 years old, it was ruled an accidental overdose, but she was never a stable woman. Instead of taking time out to comfort his young daughter the Colonel packed Milly off to boarding school, a year later he appeared on my doorstep with Milly, asking me to look after her for the weekend, washing his hands of her yet again."

Emily took a breath and looked down at her hands, intertwining her fingers before she composed herself again.

"Milly was crying out for some love and attention, getting into trouble at school but instead of helping her, the Colonel palmed her off onto me. I've really messed up JJ, with Milly, you, the team. Apparently after my 'death' Milly went off the rails again and ran away, I need to find her, rescue her, but she still thinks I'm dead!"

"Oh Emily!"

JJ went to move up the bed to comfort her friend but Emily had jumped off the bed and was running towards the bathroom, quickly following her JJ found her Emily hunched over the toilet, without thinking she crouched down beside her and lifted the brunette hair away from Emily's face.

"It's going to be ok Em."

Emily didn't say anything as she stood up, allowing JJ to help her back through and lay down on the bed.

"I'll be back in a minute."

JJ smiled as she picked up Emily's room key and walked towards Hotch's hotel room.

* * *

"How is she?"

Dave spoke quietly as JJ walked into the room, looking around at the four men she noticed that they now looked more sympathetic towards Emily's situation.

"Sleeping hopefully, what have you found out?"

"Apart from the fact that Emily's dad is a piece of work?"

The tone in Morgan's voice was full of anger as he glared at JJ but she knew that it wasn't directed at her.

"Yeah Emily gave me that impression."

"Ok so what did she say about Sally Rogers?"

Hotch quickly tried to get everyone back to the case in hand.

"That she was helping Emily to find Milly, do you think Milly is in danger from the unsub?"

"She's a fifteen year old girl living on the streets, she is in danger from a lot of people."

Hotch sighed as he gathered the file together and looked at JJ who nodded her head.

"Garcia?"

JJ looked around but everyone just shook their heads.

"I'll ring her, you go back and make sure that Emily is ok, in the morning we'll divide the work up, half of us look for Milly and the rest will concentrate on the unsub."

JJ nodded as she stood up and smiled at Hotch, quickly leaving the room and heading back to Emily who was hopefully still sleeping.

* * *

Hotch waited until he was alone before he picked up his cell, knowing that despite the late hour Garcia would be there waiting for his call.

"Sir?"

"Sorry I didn't call you earlier."

"How's Emily, what's going on?"

Hotch sighed before he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"It seems that Emily has a half-sister, Amelia Dowson Prentiss, she ran away just over four months ago from boarding school."

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen."

"Oh my!"

"She has been sighted in Dallas, hence why Emily has been down here lately."

"Oh poor Emily."

"Can you do some digging for us?"

"Of course, I'll do it now ready for the morning."

"Thank you Garcia."

"Anything for you guys, so Emily is in the clear?"

"Yes."

"Good, now I expect to hear from her soon."

"I'll pass it on Garcia."

"Thanks Sir."

Garcia cut the call off and Hotch imagined that she was immediately finding out all she could on Emily's younger sister and that it would be far more than Colonel Prentiss had managed even though he was in the CIA.

* * *

JJ shut the door quietly and wandered over to the bed, she could see that Emily was still asleep but not peacefully. Without another thought JJ placed her boots at the end of the bed and climbed on, lying next to her friend, knowing that she was going to need all the support she could get from the team in order to find her sister, hopefully alive and not too badly damaged.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – **

**5:07am Wednesday 16****th**** November 2011**

Emily's heart was racing as she opened her eyes, quickly adjusting to the surroundings but her heart began to panic once again as she felt something brush against her arm.

"It's ok Em, its only me."

Emily's head crashed down onto the pillow again as she listened to JJ's voice.

"Are you ok?"

JJ spoke quietly as Emily slowly opened her eyes.

"Yeah, crap I didn't dream that all last night, it really did happen?"

JJ nodded as Emily put her hand over her eyes.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you guys about Milly earlier..."

"Don't Em we know."

"What time is it?"

JJ pushed herself up and grabbed her cell, squinting hard as she examined the display.

"Just gone 5am."

Emily yawned as JJ stayed holding her cell.

"Is everything ok?"

"Yes, I've just got a few missed calls."

"Ok."

"Garcia wants to speak to you."

Emily nodded her head before she got up off the bed and stretched her arms out wide.

"Is it too early to call her?"

JJ just laughed at Emily's question and shook her head.

"Come on Em, she needs to hear your voice, it doesn't what time it is."

Emily nodded her head as she walked over to the table near the bed and picked up her cell.

"Do you want me to go?"

"No, please stay."

JJ nodded her head as she stayed sitting on the bed, while Emily stood near the window and waited nervously with the phone by her ear.

* * *

Garcia reached across and sleepily put her glasses on, only then could she see where she had put her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Sorry to wake you Pen."

Garcia suddenly sat upright as she heard Emily's voice rasp through the phone.

"When you get back Emily Prentiss I'm going to implant a GPS chip in your body, don't you ever go missing like that again!"

"Sorry Garcia."

"You know that you can trust us right Emily?"

"I know Garcia, it's just, my family, is a bit, well, complicated."

"I know sweetie I understand that, but that poor little girl, I'm doing everything I can to find her for you Emily."

"Thank you and I'm sorry PG I should have said something to you guys earlier."

"Pfft forgotten about already Emily, and don't worry I've got my facial recognition programme running on the CCTV cameras in Dallas, if Amelia pops in front of one we'll know about it."

"That's great Pen."

"Just promise me one thing Emily."

"Anything Garcia."

"You'll bring her home here, not to that boarding school or your father?"

"Of course."

Emily smiled as she listened to Garcia breathe a sigh of relief.

"Take care Emily."

"You too PG."

The smile was still on Emily's face as she finished to call, carrying on looking out of the window as she quickly made another call, this time unsurprisingly it went unanswered as Emily left a message.

"Mother, just to say thank you, I don't know how you knew and I don't really want to know how you found out, things are good but I still haven't found Milly, hopefully we'll be back by Sunday and we can catch up at Supper."

Emily quickly finished the call and turned to look across at JJ who had a soft smile on her face.

"So that went well."

"Yes but I think that I need to buy Garcia a few drinks when we next go out!"

"Hmm I think that you need to include me in that too!"

"Great!"

"Things are good between you and the Ambassador then?"

Emily nodded as she sat back down on the bed next to JJ.

"Yes we are a lot closer, I thought that this thing with Milly might have upset her but it's the Colonel who she is really mad at."

JJ nodded in agreement before she climbed up off the bed and headed towards the bathroom.

* * *

**10:20am Wednesday 16****th**** November 2011**

Hotch stood stoically with his arms crossed in the morgue, Dave was beside him as they watched the grim task of the post-mortem on Sally Rogers. The two men were silent as they watched the ME methodically go through the task when he took a couple of steps away from the table and removed his mask.

"Virtually identical wounds to the other four but obviously we have the benefit of the body not being exposed to the elements for too long."

"Sexual assault?"

"Difficult to tell, there is some bruising and semen was present, but given her occupation."

Hotch nodded at the answer, the likelihood was that the unsub was posing as a customer and that the girls went willingly with him, only when he had them alone did things change.

"But the good thing is that this time we have got some trace evidence."

"Oh."

Dave took a couple of steps forward and looked at the body.

"The DNA from the semen, there were also some fibres and a couple of hairs. I've sent all the evidence straight to the lab."

Hotch nodded as he turned and walked out, hoping that the analysis of the evidence would reveal some suspects for them.

* * *

**11:34am Wednesday 16****th**** November 2011**

Emily sat alone in the room, staring hard at the board that now contained five victims, she felt a tear form in her right eye and quickly closed both eyes to stop it from falling.

"Prentiss?"

Emily quickly opened her eyes and saw Hotch standing by the door which he promptly closed.

"Sorry."

Hotch nodded his head as he took a seat beside her.

"JJ, Reid and Morgan have gone out to see if any of the girls will tlak to them, I gave them some names of a few that might help them."

"Good, you didn't go with them?"

Emily shook her head as she swallowed hard.

"No I thought that it would be best to stay off the streets for the time being."

"We don't suspect you Prentiss."

Hotch had a smile on his face and Emily's heart raced slightly as she spotted his dimples.

"Yes but I made a mistake, more than one, it's not the first time either."

"Are you beginning to doubt yourself Prentiss?"

"No but maybe you should be."

"Don't be melodramatic, I'm not saying that it didn't hurt that you felt you couldn't come and talk to us but you had your own reasons, I still trust you Emily."

The sound of her first name leaving his mouth and the sentiment behind the words caused Emily to shut her eyes once again, she was now desperately trying to keep her emotions in check once again.

"You went to the morgue?"

"Yes."

"I'd only known Sally for a short time but she quickly became a friend, she didn't deserve to die like that."

"Nobody does Emily."

Emily nodded, quickly finding herself unable to speak.

"We'll find her."

"I know, I just hope that she's ok."

Hotch reached across and took a hold of Emily's hands, surprised at how cold they were, he knew that there was nothing he could say at that point to make Emily feel any better.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – **

**11:23pm Wednesday 16****th**** November 2011**

Morgan puffed out his cheeks as he walked into the room that they were using at the police station, he and JJ had spent just over twelve hours pounding the streets and all he wanted to do now was sit down, but only after he retrieved a cup of coffee first.

"Where are the others?"

JJ sat down quickly, eager to rest her feet as she looked at Hotch who had been waiting for them.

"I sent them back to the hotel to get some sleep."

JJ nodded her head as she waited for Morgan to sit down.

"So how was the day?"

"Interesting but I think that we may have got something useful."

Morgan looked at JJ as he spoke and she nodded her head in agreement.

"Go on then."

JJ brought out her cell phone and tracked through until she found the photo she was looking for.

"We spoke to these two girls, Kaylee and Patty, but I doubt that they are their real names, they knew Sally Rogers well, they've been working the streets for just over a year so know what's going on."

"And?"

Hotch was getting impatient, it was late and having gotten little sleep the night before his temper was short.

"The word has been spread about the girls, about a 'dodgy john', neither girl took it that seriously as in their words 'most of the guys are dodgy' but then the four bodies were discovered and they started to be a bit more cautious and now after Sally's death they are willing to talk to us."

Hotch nodded before Morgan put his coffee down and took over.

"We took them for a burger and they told us about the guy they had heard about, apparently used he plunged a shotgun into a girl when he couldn't get it up, they're going to talk to the girl and see if she is willing to come in and give us a description."

Hotch nodded as he looked at JJ.

"Do you think that she'll come in?"

"I don't know but Kaylee and Patty are going to come in at 2pm tomorrow so as long as we can get a name from them we can track her down."

"Good work and you're right, it sounds promising, come on let's go back and get some rest."

* * *

**3:08am Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Garcia's head was uncomfortably bowed on her desk, her glasses had been pushed to the top of her head as loud snoring emanated from her mouth. Work on the two cases, the murdered women in Dallas and trying to find Milly, had kept her at the office late into the night and sometime just over an hour ago exhaustion had caught up with her and she had fallen fast asleep. Suddenly Garcia's head shot up, the force causing the wheels on her chair to move backwards, before she managed to put her heels onto the floor and stop herself from careering into the wall.

"What the...?"

The words didn't come out clearly, more of a jumbled mess as Garcia fumbled around and finally her hands caught hold of her glasses, quickly bringing them down onto her face. Garcia wriggled her back into her heeled shoes and pushed herself back towards the desk to find out what had caused the loud beeping noise that had woken her from the deep slumber. Garcia reached up with her left hand and rubbed her neck which was sore from falling asleep on her desk while with her right she manoeuvred her mouse and brought the screen in front of her to life.

"Oh my!"

Garcia quickly moved her left hand to in front of her mouth, the facial recognition programme had come up with a possible match. Without hesitation Garcia focused in on the figure that was laying in the street, her gasps of horror only intensified as the image closed in. There was no way that she would be able to positively confirm that the girl in the street was Amelia Prentiss as the damage to her face was too bad. With her fingers trembling Garcia dialled for an ambulance to be dispatched to the location, buying herself a few seconds to think about the next call. Garcia kept her eyes focused on the screen, waiting anxiously until help finally arrived, tracking the ambulance before she watched them wheel the gurney into the hospital. Garcia realised that her left hand was still clasped tight over her mouth, she kept it there for a few seconds longer as her mind whirled as to what to do next, in the end Garcia took the easy way out, waiting patiently for the sleeping person to answer her call.

"Agent Jareau."

"JJ!"

JJ quickly sat up in her bed as she heard the emotion in Garcia's voice.

"Garcia it's the middle of the night, what's happened?"

"I think I've found her."

Garcia's words came out quickly and high pitched as JJ rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and flicked the bedside lamp on.

"Pardon? You mean Milly?"

"Yes, well I think so. The facial recognition programme came up with a possible match but, JJ the girl had blood all over her face!"

JJ took a breath as she listened to the tears in Garcia's voice.

"Was she alive?"

"I think so, I called EMS and they took her to Southwestern hospital but I still haven't confirmed her identity and didn't want to get Emily's hopes up, what should I do?"

The sound of tears carried on down the line as a frown crossed JJ's face.

"It's ok Garcia I'll take it from here, you've done a great job, try and get some rest."

"You'll let me know if it's her?"

"Of course."

Garcia took a breath before she cut the call off, knowing that she would be unable to rest until she knew whether or not the girl was Milly.

* * *

**3:27am Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

JJ banged loudly on Emily's door while she had her cell held to her ear, knowing that the combined noise would quickly wake the brunette, it she was indeed sleeping, thirty seconds later the door swung open.

"JJ?"

JJ didn't say a word as she gently pushed Emily back inside and closed the door before she made Emily sit on the bed.

"JJ what's going on? It's Milly, what's happened?"

JJ reached across and took a hold of Emily's hands, taking a moment to compose herself before she relayed the information from Garcia to Emily, watching carefully as the tears dripped down the brunette's face.

"Come on let's get you to the hospital."

JJ stood up and kept a hold of the shell-shocked Emily's hand, quietly and quickly walking out of the hotel room.

* * *

**3:54am Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Emily stood silently next to JJ, unable to bring herself to talk as she was afraid of the emotion that would come out with the words. Luckily for Emily she had JJ with her and the blonde was in no mood to be messed about, using her FBI credentials to force their way in.

"Ok Emily she's in the room over there."

JJ put her hand on Emily's elbow and nodded towards a room.

"Can you come with me?"

Emily's voice was quiet and raspy as she talked but JJ just smiled and nodded her head. The two of them walking purposefully towards the room until they reached the door and Emily's hand lingered over the handle.

"Jen?"

"It's ok Em, I'm right here."

Emily nodded her head as she opened the door, instantly her right hand flew up to cover her mouth and the tears escaped from her eyes before Emily swiftly moved towards the bed, leaning over to examine the bruised face that lay on the bed.

"It's her, it's Milly."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 –**

**3:56pm Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Emily quickly sat down on the chair and looked at the frail figure that was her unconscious sister, her hand reached out and rested on top of Milly's as Emily felt JJ's hand on her shoulder.

"I'm just going to step out and let Garcia and Hotch know what's going on."

Emily nodded her head as she listened to JJ leave the room, glad that she hadn't had to say anything as she knew that her hastily built walls would have come tumbling down. Emily closed her eyes, the relief that was coursing through her body tempered by the worry of the injuries she had suffered and they were the only the ones visible to Emily, she knew that JJ was going to track down the doctor and find out exactly what was wrong with Milly.

* * *

**4:18am Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

JJ walked into the room and gently pulled over a chair next to the one that Emily was still silently sat in. Emily shifted back in the chair but kept her right arm outstretched so that she still had some physical contact with Milly.

"Garcia is trying to get a licence plate from the vehicle that dropped Milly off on the street."

Emily just nodded her head before she slowly turned her head to look at JJ, taking a deep breath as she composed herself.

"Did you speak to the doctor?"

JJ nodded her head, she looked at Milly briefly before she turned her attention back to Emily.

"Two broken ribs, her right wrist is broken, the nose is broken and she has suffered a bad concussion, the doctor wants to keep her sedated for the next twelve hours at least."

Emily just nodded her head as she absorbed the news but she immediately sensed that JJ had not told her the whole story.

"What else?"

JJ sighed and bowed her head slightly.

"There are signs of sexual abuse, the doctor said that it looked like Milly had a hard metal object inserted into her from the evidence he found."

JJ winced as she said the words and was unsurprised to see Emily close her eyes.

"Emily, Morgan and I spoke to some of the girls tonight, they told us about a girl who had been violated with a shotgun, the same type used on our victims."

The words were whispered but JJ knew that Emily had heard them even though she had not acknowledged them. JJ could sense that her friend was close to falling over the edge, carefully she moved her chair closer so that the plastic seats were touching, silently wrapping her arm around Emily's waist before the brunette leaned in and rested her head onto JJ's shoulder.

"She's alive Em, she's going to get through this."

* * *

**8:13am Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Hotch sat in the SUV, the only one in the car park of the hotel as JJ had taken the other bureau SUV to the hospital, he was sat in the driver's seat his heart pounding fast as he waited for the others to join him. Unsurprisingly it was Morgan who spotted him first, bringing four cups of coffee with him as he climbed in the back, taking the seat diagonally behind Hotch.

"Emily's not in her room."

"I know."

Morgan looked accusingly at Hotch as he firmly passed a cup of coffee over to him.

"JJ?"

"With Emily, Milly's been found."

"That's great."

"Not when you hear about her injuries."

Hotch's voice was monotone as he watched Morgan's face drop, simultaneously Reid opened the door and had sat next to Morgan.

"Have I missed anything?"

Morgan turned and glared at Reid who just raised his hands in defence.

"Let's just wait for Dave ok?"

"Jesus Hotch we can't wait that long!"

Morgan finally had a slight grin on his face as Hotch shook his head, Rossi was notorious on the team for being late for meetings but luckily for them today he was only mildly late as he finally climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV.

"Morning, oh great coffee, thanks Derek."

Dave smiled as he took a large gulp of the hot liquid but then he glanced around the vehicle and quickly his mood changed.

"Ok so what have I missed?"

"Milly's been found, JJ and Emily are with her."

Morgan quickly replied with what he knew knowing that Hotch would have to expand on the explanation.

"Garcia's facial recognition programme found Milly last night, but she had been badly beaten, she's currently under sedation at the hospital."

"Is it connected with our current case?"

Reid's voice went up an octave as he spoke, his genius mind working overtime.

"I'm not sure yet, JJ emailed me the doctor's report and combined with what Morgan and JJ found out last night I'm leaning towards thinking that Milly had a very lucky encounter with our unsub."

Morgan blew out his cheeks as he listened to Hotch, he knew what the girls had told him and it killed him to think that Emily's sister had been subjected to anything like that.

"How is she?"

Morgan's voice was quiet, he thought of Emily as a sister and that meant that Milly was as close to a sister too and that meant he would protect her to the death.

"Alive and that is as much as I know, we need to speak to Garcia and collate the information we know to make sure that we are on the same page and chasing the same unsub."

Hotch spoke firmly before he quickly turned the key and started the engine, speedily making his way towards their base at the local police station.

* * *

**13:53pm Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Emily opened her eyes, quickly lifting her head, her senses on edge as she scanned the room but as her eyes fell onto the body still laying prone on the bed everything came screaming back into her mind.

"Milly?"

"She's still sleeping Emily, it's the best thing at the moment."

Emily sat up and pulled her body away from JJ's as she reached up with her left hand and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"I thought it was all a bad dream."

"You've found her Emily and she's alive."

"I know Jen but what am I going to say when she wakes up? She thinks that I'm dead."

The tears flowed freely down Emily's face as she spoke and JJ was powerless to stop hers from falling too.

"The truth Emily, it's the only way for the both of you to move forward."

Emily nodded as JJ spoke, she knew it was the right answer but she also knew that it wasn't going to be easy for her or Milly for that fact, but JJ was right, Milly was alive and now safe.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N – sorry for the long delay in the update to this story, been dealing with a few family illnesses so thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter and hope you still enjoy the story...**

**Chapter 14 – **

**14:32pm Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Kaylee and Patty smiled as they saw Morgan approaching them, both of them comfortable in his presence but they felt their hands being squeezed tightly as he finally stood in front of them.

"It's great to see you again ladies and it's excellent that you've managed to bring your friend along, come on I'll take you all somewhere a bit quieter so that we can talk."

Morgan smiled broadly at the three women but Kaylee sensed how anxious Amber was and moved closer to the young woman.

"Uh Agent Morgan is Agent Jareau going to be there, it's just..."

Morgan turned and focused his attention on the woman he hadn't met before and immediately saw how nervous she had become.

"Of course, I'll show you to the room and then leave you in her capable hands."

"Thanks."

Kaylee felt Amber let out a sigh of relief as she spoke and gently she and Patty led her into the room behind Morgan.

* * *

JJ rubbed her eyes before she opened the door, the call from Morgan had been unexpected as she had forgotten all about the appointment she had with Kaylee and Patty, her mind too caught up with Emily and her unconscious sister. Although it had been a long night JJ knew that she couldn't let it affect her in anyway, this could be the break that they needed in the case, unfortunately for JJ Morgan had informed her of the reluctance of the witness to speak to him so that left it for her to get the description of the unsub.

* * *

**14:48 Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Hotch walked along the hospital corridor, peering in the rooms as he went but it didn't take him long to find her, JJ had sent him a message with the room number, but it was a slight shock to see how vulnerable Emily looked sitting in the chair, holding her sister's hand. JJ had filled him in on the injuries Milly had suffered and he knew how much Emily must be hurting but on the other hand he could not ignore the similarities between the injuries and their dead victims, someone would need to speak to Milly when she regained consciousness and the one thing he was sure of was that it wouldn't be Emily. Hotch took a deep breath as he opened the door, quietly sitting down on the chair that had obviously been previously occupied by JJ.

"How is she?"

Emily didn't move, she kept her gaze focused on Milly as she spoke.

"No change, the doctor wants to keep her sedated for a bit longer yet."

"I'm sorry Emily."

Hotch's softly spoken words were enough to pull Emily's eyes off of her sister as she sat back slightly and looked at Hotch, a small smile adorning her face.

* * *

**15:58pm Thursday 17****th**** November 2011**

Garcia reached across and picked up her over-sized mug, gratefully glugging several mouthfuls of lukewarm caffeine, waiting for a few seconds before she opened her eyes and tried to will her body to stay awake for a little bit longer. Although it seemed longer that the three days since she had left the confines of Quantico Garcia knew that she couldn't leave just yet, not now that she had just received the description from JJ and the coffee was beginning to have its desired effect, giving her a much needed second wind. Instantly Garcia started running the photo fit through all known and unknown databases, determined to put a name to the face so that she could bring the team home.

* * *

**06:46am Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Hotch was in a deep sleep, able to put thoughts of the case and how closely it had involved the team to one side, instead he had flooded his mind with thoughts of Jack. He had set his alarm for 7am but his internal body clock had already started to drag him away from the park and the soccer match he was playing with Jack when his eyes opened and his mind made the match with the noise, Hotch's hand reached out and took a hold of his cell phone.

"Agent Hotchner."

"It's Detective Sanchez, sorry to call you so early Agent Hotchner, I thought that you'd want to know right away that we've got another body."

"Same as the others?"

Hotch quickly sat up, his mind on the job straight away.

"Young, female, shotgun wound to the head but there was no attempt to hide the body this time, she was left in a car park at the local wal-mart."

"So he's escalating, we need to get Amber's description out into the media, the team and I will be with you shortly."

Hotch didn't wait for a reply as he ended the call and woke the rest of the team with the news. Five minutes later as Hotch was getting dressed he debated whether or not to let Emily know the latest development but as he left his hotel room Hotch knew that Emily needed to concentrate on her sister and he needed to concentrate on the case so that they could all get home and start to heal.

* * *

**09:22am Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Emily's eyes were flicking open and shut, fighting to stay awake but she had stayed awake all night, unable to take her eyes off of her sister in the hope that she'd wake up even though the doctor had told her that it wouldn't happen until that morning at the earliest. The sight of her sister's badly damaged body tore at Emily's heart, making the guilt she had felt since learning of Milly's disappearance only intensify and Emily felt powerless to help her sister and lessen that guilt. Emily could feel her eyes beginning to shut once again so quietly she stood up and started to walk around the small room, stretching her arms up and out to increase the blood flow and to stop the aching that had easily occurred after spending hours sitting on a hard plastic chair. Emily was engrossed in her exercises, allowing her eyes to leave the bed and the sight of her sister, missing the faint opening of Milly's eyes as she turned and had her back to the bed. Only when she turned back around and sat back on the chair did Emily notice the deep dark brown eyes looking back at her. Unable to say anything, Emily just reached across and took a hold of Milly's hand as the tears started to trickle down her cheeks.

"Emily? Am I dead?"


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N – Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, after being away for a while it was nice to know that there are still people out there enjoying the story. The next few chapters are going to be a bit emotional for the team but especially Emily and Milly, my husband has taken the kids camping for the weekend so I will have plenty of time to write and think how the story is going to progress!**

**Chapter 15 – **

**09:23AM Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Emily reached up with her free hand and wiped the tears from her eyes while she shook her head and swallowed hard.

"No Milly, it's me you're alive, in a hospital in Dallas."

Emily's voice was quiet but the words got through to Milly as she blinked her eyes and focused in on Emily's face, squeezing her sister's hand tightly to ensure that it really was true.

"I thought, the Colonel said..."

"I'm sorry, so sorry Milly, I had to hide from someone and that meant..."

Emily had to stop but Milly nodded her head but then winced slightly.

"Milly?"

"Sorry my head hurts."

"That's not surprising, I'd better go and get the doctor to check you out."

"Emily?"

"Yes sweetie."

"What happened to me?"

Emily closed her eyes and bowed her head before she slowly opened them and smiled at Milly, reaching across she brushed the brunette hair off from Milly's face, the sound of the door opening interrupting the moment but Emily leant closer and spoke quietly to her sister.

"It doesn't matter now Milly, just relax I'm right here with you."

* * *

**09:48AM Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Dave looked up from his notes as the door opened, the smile on JJ's face confused him for a moment, especially seeing as they had just come back from seeing another dead female but then he saw that the smile had yet to fade.

"JJ?"

"I just spoke to the hospital, Milly is awake!"

The words and the smile suddenly became clear to Dave as he opened his mouth and made a large 'O' shape that had a matching sound to accompany it.

"I'm going to the hospital, Hotch wants me to speak to Milly as soon as possible."

"Ok."

For once Dave was a man of few words, he was estatic that Milly was awake but he was also worried about how Milly was going to react to Emily and how open she would be to talking about what had happened to her.

"It will be ok Dave, we need to catch this unsub fast as he is escalating, Milly can help us with that."

Dave just nodded his head as JJ flashed him a wide smile, somehow she could read him better than anybody else on the team and somehow that also brought him a great deal of comfort.

* * *

**11:12AM Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

JJ stood outside the hospital room, iPad in one hand coffee in the other, the doctor and Emily were deep in conversation but finally the two of them headed out of the room, the doctor smiling as she walked past JJ but Emily stopped and gave her friend a weary smile.

"Here I think that you need this more than me at the moment."

JJ smiled as she passed the coffee over to Emily.

"Thanks, I was just falling asleep when Milly woke up."

Emily closed her eyes briefly as she smelt the warm aroma of the coffee.

"Well why don't you go and get some rest for a while?"

Emily stopped lifting the cup to her lips and looked hard at her friend.

"You need to speak to Milly?"

JJ nodded her head slowly.

"Yes, sorry."

Emily shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of coffee.

"Just be gentle with her, she is still in a lot of pain."

"Of course Emily, how did she react?"

"To me? That I'm alive?"

JJ nodded and watched as Emily took a long and heavy sigh.

"She thought that she was dead at first but everything is still so raw, we haven't really talked about it yet."

"There's plenty of time for that as yet, go and get some rest and I'll give you a call when I'm finished."

"Thanks Jen."

Emily smiled as she turned and walked away, JJ put her hand on the door and took a breath, it was never easy interviewing witnesses, especially ones that had close links to the team.

* * *

**11:16AM Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

JJ smiled as she walked into the room, taking the seat nearest the bed which had obviously been Emily's during the long hours she had waited beside her sister's bed.

"Hello Milly, I'm Agent Jareau how are you?"

Milly turned her head towards the unfamiliar figure but after a moment there was a slight recognition of the face.

"You work with Emily?"

"Yes I do."

Milly closed her eyes for a moment as JJ reached across and took a hold of the teenager's hand.

"I know that this is hard Milly but I need to ask you some questions."

"About Emily?"

"No about what happened to you."

"I don't understand Agent Jareau."

"Please call me JJ Milly, and let me explain a little. I'm here in Dallas with my team as someone has been killing young women, specifically prostitutes, we think that your attack might be linked."

JJ spoke softly as she watched Milly listen carefully and then as a few tears escaped from Milly's eyes.

"Emily must hate me."

"Of course she doesn't, she loves you Milly. Emily has been looking non-stop for you since she found out that you were missing."

"Oh."

"Please Milly, we can talk about Emily later but I need to ask you some questions first."

"He has killed girls?"

"I'm afraid so."

"I guess I was lucky then."

"Extremely."

JJ looked at the girl as she swallowed hard, she knew that she had to push Milly, guessing that the girl was as stubborn as her sister and that she needed to know the truth.

"I'd like to show you a photo Milly."

"Ok."

JJ clicked her iPad on and pulled up the sketch that had been drawn up from Amber's description.

"That's him."

"Ok, is there anything that you can add to this drawing?"

Milly shook her head as the tears trickled down her cheeks.

"He said that his name was Paul."

"That's good Milly, anything else?"

"He called me Angel when he was attacking me, he told me to beg for my life but I couldn't...I thought that nobody would care if I was dead, that I'd be better off like that."

Milly's voice broke off at the end and JJ was trying hard to fight back her own tears, she swallowed hard, allowing herself a moment to compose herself before she replied.

"Well you know that it is different now Milly, thanks for the information, I'll get Emily to come back and sit with you."

"No, please can you stay with me for a while?"

JJ frowned but understood how conflicted Milly felt, quickly she emailed the information garnered from Milly to the team before making herself comfortable as she watched Milly drift off to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N - sorry for the long delay in updating, inspiration and time have been sorely lacking...**

**Chapter 16 – **

**13:25pm Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Garcia had left her office for the grand total of 18 minutes 23 seconds, in the search of something to eat that was not micro waved or full of fat, rushing down the bureau canteen she had managed to satisfy her hunger with a turkey and salad sandwich combined with a diet coke to help her stay awake for the afternoon. But in that short time, Garcia should have known, fate would have it, all that hard work, hours spent staring at screens, as soon as she the office for a bit of personal time her 'babies' would come up with a result. Garcia squealed loudly, confident that nobody else would hear her within the confines of her office, and put down the remainder of her sandwich bringing up on her large screen the result of her search. The search perimeters had been broadened from Milly's information, the name Paul with a significant other going by the name of Angel, it had brought up a result and as Garcia sat down she looked hard at the photo, determined that it was the correct information before she let it loose on the rest of the team. It was there staring at her in black and sort of vague colour, Paul Glasswell, aged 28 one previous marriage to an Angel Marybell, killed in an apparent car accident, the description and names matched what they were looking for and Garcia knew better than to waste time, quickly sending the information to Morgan before she phoned Hotch.

"Garcia?"

"Sir, I've got a name."

"Garcia..."

"Paul Glasswell, I'm sending the details to you."

"Thank you Garcia, good work now go home and get some rest."

Hotch heard a sigh as the call ended but he knew that an exhausted Garcia was of no use to anybody.

* * *

**13:46pm Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Emily looked in at the hospital room and saw JJ sitting beside the bed, slowly she opened the door and walked in.

"Good timing Em."

Emily frowned as JJ quickly stood up.

"Hotch just phoned, we've got a possible name and address."

"You're going with the team?"

There was a nervousness to Emily's voice that JJ hadn't heard before as she nodded her head.

"Yes, you'll be fine Emily, the both of you have a lot to talk about and you don't need me here for that."

"I guess you're right, what's his name?"

"Paul Glasswell, Garcia has emailed a photo to you, when Milly wakes up maybe you could ask her if she recognises him?"

"Ok, take care Jen."

"As ever and don't worry Emily, you'll be fine."

JJ smiled as she turned and left the room while Emily sighed and sat down in the chair as Milly slept soundly.

* * *

**14:28pm Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Emily was staring at the bed, at her sister, but her eyes had glazed over and she didn't notice Milly's eyes open and look back at her.

"Emily?"

"Oh, what? Sorry Milly."

Emily quickly reached up and rubbed her eyes before she sat up and looked at Milly, offering her sister a faint smile.

"What happened to JJ?"

Emily's heart sank and she failed to disguise her disappointment.

"Sorry Emily, I didn't...I just wondered where she was."

Milly shifted in the bed and tried to reach Emily's hand but it was out of her grasp.

"She had to go with the team."

"Ok."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like someone beat the crap out of me."

Milly looked at Emily and smiled, pleased to see that Emily was smiling too.

"Still got the Prentiss sense of humour then?"

"I never want to lose that Emily."

Milly reached out again and managed to grasp Emily's hand, clinging tightly to it as she saw the tears form in Emily's eyes.

"Why did you run Milly?"

"I had never felt so alone before, you had died, the Colonel was off doing his spy stuff, school was horrible, I just had to get away, I couldn't see any other option."

"I'm so sorry Milly, I thought that I was protecting you by pretending to be dead but I never considered how you would feel."

"I've messed up Emily, I'm in so much trouble..."

Milly's voice trailed off as a few sobs escaped from her mouth.

"But nothing that we can't fix Milly, you can come home with me and make a fresh start."

Emily smiled as she reached over and wiped the tears from Milly's face.

"Live with you?"

"Of course, I've got a new place but it's still got a spare bedroom."

"The Colonel?"

"I'll deal with him Milly."

Milly went quiet for a moment, allowing Emily to reach into her pocket and bring out her cell, searching for the photo Garcia had sent to her.

"Milly sweetie, I need to show you something."

Milly nodded her head as Emily leant across and showed her the photo of Paul Glasswell.

"Do you recognise him?"

"Yes, that's him, Emily what's going on?"

"His name is Paul Glasswell, the team have gone out to find him, don't worry you're perfectly safe here."

Milly swallowed hard as she looked at Emily who quickly put her cell away.

"It's ok Milly, don't worry."

"Thank you Emily."

Emily smiled as she looked at Milly, things were definitely improving between the two of them.

* * *

**14:29pm Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

"How are they?"

Hotch frowned as he looked at JJ while he drove the SUV to the address Garcia had given them.

"Ok, well there's a lot for them to talk about."

"Hmm."

JJ turned and looked out of the window, hoping that the unsub was going to be at the address so they could get home and away from all the trouble the case had brought them. JJ made sure that her flak jacket was strapped on tightly as they pulled up outside the house, the vehicle registered to Paul Glasswell was parked up as Morgan approached.

"Engine's cold."

"Of Morgan, take Reid and go round the back, JJ you and Dave are with me."

Everyone nodded as they walked towards the house, weapons drawn as Dave knocked loudly on the door.

"FBI, open up Mr Glasswell."

Dave looked at Hotch who wasn't prepared to wait any longer as he kicked the door hard, causing it to cave in before Dave quickly entered. The shotgun blast had Dave and Hotch falling to the floor but JJ behind them was sheltered, allowing her a precious second to return fire, her two bullets quickly finding their target.

"Thanks Jen."

Dave spoke quietly as he gingerly got up and dusted his jeans down.

"Not a problem, you think he's our guy?"

"Certainly looks that way. Come on let's have a looked around."

Dave and JJ headed away into the house as Hotch leant over the body, unable to find any remorse for the dead man.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 – **

**17:37pm Friday 18****th**** November 2011**

Hotch stood about a metre away from the door, unsure about what he was going to say when he entered the room and how the atmosphere would be between the two Prentiss women.

"Can I help you Sir?"

Hotch quickly turned around and saw a young female burse smiling at him, instinctively he reached and showed his credentials.

"Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, how is Amelia Prentiss doing?"

"Not too bad considering, she needs to rest and not be disturbed too much."

"How soon until she can be released?"

Hotch saw the confused look on the nurse's face so he quickly expanded.

"The woman in there with her is my colleague as well as being the victim's sister, we would like to take Amelia back home with us."

"Oh well you'd have to talk to her doctor, normally patients with her injuries stay in for about a week but it depends on the individual."

"Thank you very much."

"I'll get a message to the doctor that you wish to speak to her."

Hotch nodded his head as he finally moved the few steps towards the door and quietly opened it, smiling warmly as he entered. The sight of Emily, sleeping, her head resting on the edge of Milly's bed as her arm sprawled out over Milly's stomach, Hotch quickly turned around and stealthily left the two Prentiss women to get some rest.

* * *

**06:18AM Saturday 19****th**** November 2011**

"You found her then?"

The booming voice vibrated around the small room, causing Emily and Milly to open their eyes and stare hard at the imposing figure standing at the foot of the bed.

"Dad?"

Milly's voice was a whisper as she clung tightly to Emily's hand.

"My god Amelia, look at the state of you, how much trouble did you manage to get yourself into this time?"

Colonel Prentiss placed his hands firmly on the end of the bed, the look of disdain clearly evident on his face as Emily quickly prised Milly's fingers off from hers and forcefully stood up.

"Take it easy Colonel."

Emily walked towards her father as the two of them stared hard as each other, the Colonel shaking his head as he waved his hand towards the bed.

"Look at her, got herself beaten up and now she's drugged up to the eyeballs."

"Stop it now!"

Emily's voice was low but forceful as her father turned and looked at her.

"You don't talk to me like that Emily Elizabeth Prentiss!"

Emily smiled as Colonel Prentiss shouted at her, she could see nursing staff approaching the room but she wanted to make sure Milly knew that she was serious yesterday, there was no going back to the Colonel for her.

"I don't know why **YOU** are here at all Colonel Prentiss, **YOUR ** presence is unwanted and unnecessary, I suggest that you leave before I have you arrested!"

Emily got right into her father's face as she spoke, her voice was raised but she was not shouting and remained calm throughout the exchange. Colonel Prentiss took a breath as he looked at Milly who was wiping the tears from her face before he turned to look at Emily who had a steely determination in her eyes, he recognised the look as one she had gained from her mother as he took another deep breath.

"Fine, just don't expect any help."

Colonel Prentiss opened the door just as a security guard was walking towards him.

"Don't worry I'm leaving."

Emily closed her eyes, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, the emotion of what had just happened finally dawning on her. Slowly Emily opened her eyes and puffed out her cheeks before she turned around and looked at Milly, a tired smile on her face.

"You ok?"

Milly nodded her head while Emily moved back over to the bed, sitting back down on the chair before she reached over and wiped the tears from Milly's face.

"He's really gone?"

"Looks that way, are you ok with that?"

Emily looked at her sister as she moved her hand to take a hold of Milly's, squeezing it tightly.

"Yeah, thank you Emily."

"Not a problem, wow that felt good, finally standing up to him after all these years."

Emily laughed softly as Milly smiled and nodded her head.

"Get some rest Milly, the doctor will be round soon to check on how you are doing."

"Maybe I can leave here?"

"Think it's a little early to be thinking like that but we can always ask."

Milly smiled before she laid her head back down on the pillow and closed her eyes once again.

* * *

**06:42AM Saturday 19****th**** November 2011**

"Uurrrgghhh."

Hotch groaned as his cell rang and vibrated along the wooden bedside unit, he was expecting a nice lie in this morning, rather than being woken yet again by his phone.

"Hotchner."

Hotch made no attempt to hide the grogginess in his voice, the case was over, there was no need for anybody to be calling at this hour.

"Sorry to disturb you so early Agent Hotchner."

"Ambassador Prentiss?"

"Yes Agent Hotchner, sorry for the intrusion but my assistant has just informed me that Colonel Prentiss is back in the country, in Dallas to be precise."

"Oh."

"Yes, I know my ex-husband Agent Hotchner and how he treats his daughters."

Elizabeth's voice trailed off and Hotch caught the tinge of emotion that it contained.

"I'll go right to the hospital."

"Thank you Agent Hotchner, can you ask Emily to phone me when she has a moment."

"Of course ma'am and don't worry I am now leaving."

Hotch quickly ended the call, already he had pulled on a pair of jeans and slipped into some shoes while he had been on the phone to the Ambassador and it only took him fifteen seconds to pull on a sweater and grab his credentials and service weapon. Hotch picked up his keys before he left the room, deciding that he didn't have the time to rouse anyone else, he wanted to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, to protect Emily from any further pain and suffering.


	18. Chapter 18

**Don't forget to nominate your favorite authors and stories for the 3rd Annual Profiler's Choice Awards! Information, rules and the nomination form can be found at the Chit Chat on Author's Corner forum.**

**Chapter 18 – **

**07:17AM Saturday 19****th**** November 2011**

Hotch had jogged all through the hospital, only stopping once his hand was on the door and he could see that both of the women were alone. Quietly he entered the room but was caught unawares as Emily turned to look at him, he could see the evidence of shed tears on her cheeks as she smiled at him.

"Sorry Hotch it's a bit late for the cavalry."

Hotch frowned as he moved closer to Emily, keeping his voice low as he could see that Milly was asleep.

"The Colonel's been?"

"Yep and been dismissed, how did you know?"

Hotch looked around quickly before he picked up a chair from the corner of the room and brought it over, sitting down close to Emily.

"Your mother has some good sources."

"Yes she does, especially when it comes to keeping track of the Colonel."

"She would like a phone call."

Emily nodded as Hotch leaned closer and looked at Emily.

"How did it go?"

Emily turned and puffed out her cheeks, closing them for a second while Hotch reached across and took a hold of Emily's hand.

"It felt good, after all these years to stand up to him."

"I'm glad that you were able to do that, not just for yourself but for Milly too."

Hotch smiled as he looked at Emily and then at her sister before he let go of Emily's hand and stood up.

"I need to go and get a coffee, do you want one?"

Emily nodded her head and smiled as Hotch turned and walked out of the room, leaving Emily to ponder the conversation before she retrieved her cell.

"Emily?"

"Morning mother."

Emily kept her voice quiet so as to not disturb Milly.

"Are you ok? Your father?"

"It's ok, he's gone, your timing was a little off though mother."

"Oh I'm sorry darling, how are you both?"

"I'm good, Milly's healing slowly, and it's going to take her some time."

"I know Emily, don't rush anything though."

"I just want to bring her home mother, show her some love."

"And you will Emily but listen to the doctor's, is there anything that I can do?"

"Actually yes, have you still got the keys to my house?"

Emily smiled as she spoke and glad that her mother was more than willing to help.

* * *

**08:30AM Saturday 19****th**** November 2011**

Hotch had his arms full as he walked back into the room.

"Sorry I was a bit longer but I thought that I'd get us some breakfast."

Hotch quickly unburdened himself, placing the brown paper bags on the end of the bed, it was only then that he noticed another pair of eyes looking at him, a smile crossed his face as he spoke.

"Hello Milly, don't worry there's plenty for you too."

Milly looked hard at the strange face before she turned to Emily who smiled reassuringly at her.

"He's my boss Milly."

"Oh, so you're Aaron."

Hotch raised an eyebrow as he looked at Emily who had a small wry smile on her face.

"What happened? Did you stop him?"

Milly's voice was full of apprehension as she spoke, quickly she sought out Emily's hand to cling onto.

"I complete forgot earlier, I was so caught up with the Colonel, I'm sorry Hotch."

Hotch shook his head as he walked over and passed a coffee to Emily as he sat down.

"Don't worry either of you, the case is over, just a pile of paperwork to complete."

Emily just nodded her head understanding what he meant and that she would find out fully what had gone on when Milly was not around but she had just one question.

"The team is all ok?"

"Yes, all sleeping."

Milly released her grip on Emily's hands as Hotch spoke, her mind slightly whirring with all that had happened that morning, she didn't want to sleep but she did want some peace and solitude, knowing that Emily wouldn't leave her the only option was to lie back and close her eyes.

* * *

**11:27AM Saturday 19****th**** November 2011**

Milly felt something touching her arm, quickly she opened her eyes and was surprised to see the doctor standing over her.

"Hello Amelia, good to see you."

The doctor smiled at Milly as she looked around and saw that Emily wasn't in the room.

"It's ok Amelia, your sister is just outside, how are you feeling?"

The doctor had a file open in her hands, examining it closely as Milly thought for a moment.

"Ok I guess, still sore but the pain is bearable."

"Good that's what I wanted to hear, any withdrawal symptoms?"

Milly shook her head firmly before she looked at the door, she could see Emily speaking on her cell outside.

"I haven't been using anything for a while, just drinking and..."

"Hurting yourself?"

Milly nodded as the doctor sat down.

"Have you talked to your sister about this?"

"No."

"Well I want you too before I agree to release you ok?"

Milly nodded her head as the doctor smiled and patted her hand gently.

"From what I hear you're going back to nice stable environment so I don't see any problems in releasing you to go home soon."

Milly smiled as the doctor turned and walked out of the room, stopping briefly to talk to Emily before her sister returned to the room.

"Ok?"

Emily had a slight frown on her face as she sat back down, noticing the hesitation in Milly before the girl slowly nodded her head.

"The doctor said that you could probably leave in a day or two as long as we fix up some follow up appointments at home."

"That's good."

There wasn't much enthusiasm in Milly's voice, a fact immediately picked up by Emily, who reached up and stroked Milly's hair softly.

"You still want to come and live with me don't you Milly?"

"Yes of course I do Emily, I can't thank you enough for wanting to take me in but I'm afraid Emily, I'm broken."

The tears trickled down Milly's face and Emily reached down and took a hold of her sister's hands.

"We'll manage Milly, whatever you need I'm going to be there for you, to help you get well again."

"I stopped taking the drugs when I got to Dallas, but the drinking helped me to forget, but it wasn't enough. I hated myself and just wanted the pain to stop."

Emily swallowed hard but it wasn't enough to stop the tears from falling as Milly moved her gown and showed Emily the cuts and scars on her waist, just above her hip.

"Oh sweetie, don't worry everything is going to get better now."

Emily reached across and embraced her sister, tears flowing freely from both of them as they sought comfort in each other.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19 – **

**10:35AM Sunday 20****th**** November 2011**

JJ smiled as she opened the door, the sound of music enveloped the room as Emily lay on the bed next to Milly, her iPad resting on her knees. JJ walked around and sat down on the chair before she peered over at the screen.

"Dancing with the Stars, so that's your guilty secret Em?"

"Yeah you caught me red handed Jen, how are you?"

Emily quickly paused the program and looked at her friend.

"Good, relaxed, speaking of which, I take it you haven't been back to your bed for a while, had a shower?"

"She's right Emily, you've slept on that chair and you are beginning to smell a bit!"

Milly grinned as she finished the sentence while Emily put her hand on her chest and feigned how hurt she was.

"Ok I can take a hint, I know when I'm not wanted!"

Emily stuck her tongue out at Milly as she got up off the bed before she grabbed her coat from the foot of the bed.

"Don't worry Em, I'll stay and keep Milly company."

"Thanks Jen."

JJ smiled as she watched Emily leave before she passed Milly her iPad.

"You want to carry on watching?"

"Yeah, thanks."

JJ looked at Milly as the girl brought the program up onto the screen before Milly turned to look at her.

"You want to join me?"

Milly patted the bed softly as JJ grinned widely.

"Sure why not."

* * *

**11:47AM Sunday 20****th**** November 2011**

JJ smiled as she put the iPad down and looked across at Milly.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

"Coffee would be nice."

JJ nodded as she climbed off the bed and watched Milly yawn.

"Ok I won't be long."

"Thanks JJ."

Milly smiled as JJ walked out of the room, glad that she was alone even if it was for a brief time, the past few days had been a bit like a whirlwind and she still felt as if she was being tossed in the air, her emotions had yet to settle down. Milly had headed to Dallas for no other reason than to get away from school and the Colonel, nobody had shown her any love, apart from Emily, so why should she show herself any? Milly hadn't the determination to kill herself outright instead she thought that someone else would do the deed for her and it very nearly happened. Milly sighed as she rolled over in the bed and shut her eyes, she didn't want to die now but she wasn't sure how much she wanted to live either. Granted it was great that Emily was alive and willing to share her home with her but Milly still had those nagging self doubts that kept raising their voices in her mind. It was during these times that Milly had turned to the knife, a present from the Colonel, one of the few items he had ever given her and at last she had found a use for it but now after she had been attacked she had no idea of where it was. Milly suddenly found herself unable to control her emotions, the tears started flowing freely once again, she hated not being in control and the knife had given her that.

"Milly what's wrong?"

JJ quickly closed the door and walked over to the bed, putting the two cups of coffee down as she crouched down beside Milly and stroked her hair softly.

"What is it Milly? Do you want me to get the doctor?"

Milly shook her head as she opened her eyes and looked at JJ, speaking through the sobs.

"Sorry, don't worry I'm ok."

Milly reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes, she could feel her cheeks reddening with embarrassment, it was bad enough that Emily knew how much of a mess she was but now JJ had walked in on her having a meltdown.

"Milly sweetie, come on talk to me."

Milly shook her head as she swallowed hard and tried to stop the tears from streaming down her face.

"Do you want me to get Emily?"

JJ sighed as she spoke, she didn't want to disturb her friend's much needed rest but she was at a loss as to how to help Milly.

"No, I'm sorry JJ, it's nothing honestly."

Milly smiled but she knew that she wasn't fooling JJ as the older woman pulled the chair over and sat down, all the time keeping eye contact with Milly until she was sat down and reached across and gently placed the palm of her hand on Milly's cheek.

"I'm just finding it hard, really hard JJ."

JJ nodded her head and smiled at Milly who took a breath before she continued.

"I'm not used to people caring about me, wanting to spend time with me, when I ran away I hated myself, my life, I wanted it all to end."

"And now?"

JJ frowned slightly, she knew that Milly obviously had some emotional problems she just didn't know how deep they ran.

"I don't know, I want to live, I want to live with Emily."

Milly stopped and closed her eyes, she could feel the tears forming once again.

"It's going to be ok Milly, you've been through a lot and nobody is going to rush you into anything, especially Emily."

JJ smiled as Milly nodded her head and managed to give JJ a small smile in return.

"Thanks for listening JJ, I haven't really talked to anyone like that before, not even my mom, Emily tried but I never really gave her a chance."

"It was a pleasure Milly, and I'm glad that you were able to talk to me, I'm always here for you to speak to but I hope that you will be able to talk to Emily too."

"I have started too, it was amazing when she stood up to the Colonel yesterday."

JJ laughed slightly, Hotch had filled the team in on what had happened as they finished up the paperwork for the case.

"I can imagine how it went, I've seen Emily crack the toughest unsubs."

"She really is strong isn't she?"

"Yeah but she needs you too Milly, she searched tirelessly for you, just don't forget that although you haven't spent that much time together you two have a really strong bond."

Milly smiled once again as JJ reached up and stroked Milly's cheek once again.

"You really think everything is going to be ok?"

"Of course Milly, things are only going to get better now, you have to believe that."

Milly nodded and reached up and placed her hand on top of JJ's, all the dark thoughts had disappeared for the time being.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 – **

**15:18pm Sunday 20****th**** November 2011**

Emily couldn't believe the time, that she had slept for so long, she knew that Milly was safe, that JJ was looking out for her but now that she was feeling refreshed Emily wanted to get back to her sister. Quickly Emily threw a few things into her bag, she had no idea of when she would next return to her hotel room before Emily turned and walked out of her room, crashing right into another person as she rushed towards the elevator.

"Dave, I'm so sorry."

Emily quickly bent down and picked up Dave's bag and sheepishly handed it to him.

"Not a problem, it's good to see you, how are you and Milly doing?"

Dave smiled as the elevator door opened and the two of them walked in.

"Ok I guess."

"Well that's certainly a non-descript answer."

Dave grinned as Emily smiled and shook her head.

"Better thanks, Milly is improving and we've been talking."

"Yeah I heard that you dealt with an unwelcome visitor yesterday."

"Mmm the Colonel certainly makes his presence felt, even after he's been dismissed."

"Ah there's the Emily Prentiss I know and love, the dry sarcastic wit! Did it feel good standing up to him?"

Dave raised an eyebrow as Emily smiled and bowed her head before slowly bringing it back up and nodded it firmly.

"Of course it did, but I must say I was rather restrained, for Milly's sake."

Dave let out a loud laugh as the elevator stopped and the door opened.

"So you're heading back to the hospital?"

"Uh huh, JJ's been there for a while so I'd better go and relieve her."

"Ok well I'm going back to the station to finish off the last of the paperwork."

"Are you flying back today?"

Dave shrugged his shoulders and gently placed a hand on Emily's arm.

"No, not yet, we're kind of waiting on you and Milly."

Emily nodded her head and took a deep breath.

"Thanks, we appreciate it."

Dave nodded his head as Emily smiled and started to walk towards the door, quickly hailing a cab to take her to the hospital.

* * *

**15:43pm Sunday 20****th**** November 2011**

Emily smiled as she entered the room, the end of the bed contained the remnants of empty coffee cups, an empty Cheeto's packet and a couple of sandwich wrappers.

"Well I can see that you two have managed to amuse yourselves, did you get a look in with these Milly?"

Emily grinned as she picked up the empty Cheeto's packet and looked at JJ who cheeks quickly reddened.

"Of course Em, unlike you your sister knows how to share her food and not devour it in two minutes flat!"

JJ shot Emily a glare but the sparkle in her eyes was present as the two women suddenly burst out laughing causing Milly to reach up and cover her eyes before Emily bent over and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'm sorry Milly, I guess you'll get used to JJ and I."

"Yeah Milly, our conversations can get a bit wacky sometimes."

"Oh god she hasn't even met Pen yet!"

Emily perched on the edge of Milly's bed and looked at JJ who opened her mouth wide.

"Oh yeah!"

Milly turned to Emily, a slight look of concern on her face and she could feel her anxiety levels rising but Emily quickly reached across and took a hold of her sister's hand.

"It's ok Milly, these people are my friends, and they're not going to hurt you in any way."

Emily spoke quietly as she tried to reassure her sister, out of the corner of her eye she could see JJ gathering her belongings.

"The doctor is going to be round in about five minutes so I'll leave you two alone, if you're feeling up to it maybe I could bring the rest of the team by to say hello?"

JJ smiled as she stood up and looked at Milly who nodded her head.

"That would be nice seeing as I guess I'm going to be seeing a lot more of you all once I start living with Emily."

"Oh yeah you can count on that! Take care and I'll speak to you soon Em."

"Thanks JJ, for everything."

JJ waved her hand in acknowledgement before she walked out of the room, hoping that the doctor would bring them all some good news and allow Milly to return home with them sooner rather than later.

* * *

**16:08pm Sunday 20****th**** November 2011**

Emily closed the door as the doctor left the room, breathing a sigh of relief as she turned back and looked at Milly who had her eyes tightly closed.

"It was good news Milly, we can go home."

Emily's voice was quiet as she sat down on the chair that had become her home these last three days, Milly's eyes were still closed and Emily knew that if her sister opened them the tears would fall once again. Emily leant her head back and looked at the ceiling, the conversation with the doctor had gone well, but the subject of Milly's self-harming had come up and Emily had promised to get Milly to see a psychologist as soon as they were back home.

"Are you sure you are ready Emily?"

Milly's voice was quiet, breaking with emotion as she spoke.

"Of course I am, I know that it is all a bit scary but trust me ok?"

Milly nodded her head as she slowly opened her eyes.

"So your new place, has it still got a certain male stalking around?"

Emily let out a laugh as she realised who Milly was talking about, quickly Emily retrieved her cell and brought up a photo and passed it to Milly.

"Wow Sergio still looks as handsome as ever!"

"Yeah, he was pretty grumpy when I came back but he seems to be back to his normal self now."

Milly squeezed Emily's hand as she could tell how talking about her disappearance still affected her sister.

"I can really go home tomorrow?"

"Yeah but you still need to rest."

Milly nodded her head and closed her eyes once again.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 – **

**10:10am Monday 21****st**** November 2011**

"So are you ready?"

Emily smiled as she spoke, looking at Milly as she gingerly got off from the bed, dressed in some jeans and a jumper that Emily had brought in for her, as she nodded in response to her older sister.

"Yes it will be nice to get out of this room."

Milly smiled as she looked around the cramped hospital room before Emily took a hold of her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"I've got a cab waiting outside, I've got to pack my stuff up at the hotel and then check with Hotch to see what the arrangements are for travelling home."

Milly took a deep breath as they walked out of the hospital, she knew that this was what she wanted but it was still going to take some time to get used to, she hoped that the day would pass quickly so that she could get settled in at her new home with Emily.

* * *

**11:34am Monday 21****st**** November 2011**

Milly lay on the bed, the remote control in her right hand as she kept scrolling through the channels, not settling on a programme for longer than two minutes before she changed it again. Emily was collecting her belongings from the bathroom as she sighed and listened to the volume on the television increase a little, she knew that Milly was nervous so she just closed her eyes for a moment before she continued to pack her things. Emily was still in the bathroom when she heard a knock on the door, she took a deep breath and quickly went to answer it.

"JJ."

"Hi Em, Milly."

JJ smiled as Emily stood aside and let her friend enter.

"So all packed?"

"Yeah think so."

Emily stood in the middle in the room and looked around once again as JJ sat down on the bed watching as Milly rolled her eyes and the blonde failed to suppress her laughter.

"Oh she's always like this Milly, scared that she might leave her toothbrush behind or something just as important!"

"You laugh now Jen but who got round to mine and realised she'd left her pyjamas in a hotel in Alabama!"

Emily grinned as JJ shook her head and looked at Milly, gently placing her hand on top of hers and making her drop the remote control onto the bed.

"Well the guts are all at a coffee shop nearby and we were wondering if you wanted to come over, grab a decent coffee before the flight home."

Milly looked across at Emily who finished closing her bag up and looked at JJ before speaking.

"So we're flying back with you guys?"

"Yeah Hotch has arranged for the jet to leave at 2pm, we thought that it would give you a change to get sorted before leaving."

"Thanks, Milly?"

"I don't mind, I guess so, can I sleep on the plane?"

"Of course you can, Jen normally does!"

Emily grinned as JJ stuck her tongue out at her friend but Emily walked around the bed as she saw Milly slowly stand up, gently she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Don't worry they're nice people Milly, you've already met Hotch and JJ."

"I guess so and you've told me plenty about the others, Morgan, Reid and Dave?"

"That's right and I promise they won't ask you any awkward questions."

Milly nodded her head as JJ reached across and turned the television off, Milly felt her body tense slightly but she knew that she had to be strong, this was a new start and one that she couldn't mess up.

* * *

**15:08pm Monday 21****st**** November 2011**

Emily sat staring out of the window as the jet made its way back home, opposite her Milly was curled up, taking two seats up and she had JJ's blanket wrapped around her as she slept. Emily was pleased that her sister was sleeping, the morning had been exhausting for her and they both needed to remember that her body was still recuperating from her attack.

"Hello."

Emily jumped slightly as she turned around and saw Hotch sitting next to her, smiling softly, she returned the smile as she looked around the jet and saw that everyone else was preoccupied.

"Hi."

"Is Milly ok?"

Hotch nodded towards the sleeping teenager before he looked deeply into Emily's eyes.

"Yeah I think we exhausted her over coffee but at least we're going home now."

"It went ok then, we didn't overwhelm her? I did have words with Reid beforehand."

Hotch smiled as Emily laughed quietly and shook her head.

"No I was impressed everyone was on their best behaviour! I suppose it helped that she knew about everyone but Milly also knows that the team knows her deepest darkest secrets and that scares her."

"That's understandable of course but then we also know each other's lives inside out now, maybe you could explain that to Milly, it might help."

Emily nodded her head as she reached across and picked up her bottle of water, taking a long sip as she watched Milly shift in her sleep.

"Do you need a hand when you get home, to help Milly get settled in?"

"No we're ok, thank you though. My mother is sorting everything out for me, I expect it will look perfect when we get back."

"The Ambassador is helping?"

Hotch raised an eyebrow as Emily laughed.

"Well I doubt that she is doing the work herself but I asked her to decorate and furnish Milly's room for her."

Emily saw the confused look on Hotch's face and explained.

"My mother may have certain views of the Colonel but she knows that none of it is Milly's fault, she knows that Milly needs a stable home and she is willing to help me with that."

"That's good."

"Yeah we've got a good relationship now, after I came back from Paris, I want to keep that and include Milly in it."

"Well you know where I am if you need anything, though I don't expect to see you in the office until next Monday at the earliest."

Emily raised her eyebrows and looked startled at Hotch as he reached across and placed his hands on top of Emily's.

"This case has been tough on the whole team but you especially Emily, Milly needs you around to help her adjust, I'm sure that the both of you still have a lot to talk about."

"Thanks Hotch, I know that it's going to be hard and take time but think that I can help Milly."

"Of course you can Emily and remember that we are all around if you need us."

Emily nodded her head as Hotch let go of her hands and stood up, making his way down the jet to where more files were awaiting his attention.

* * *

**17:38pm Sunday 27****th**** November 2011**

Milly was sat on the kitchen counter, watching Emily stirring the pot of sauce that had been bubbling away for the last thirty minutes, in the week that she had travelled back with Emily things had not always been easy but Milly knew that her sister was trying hard and that meant that she had to give a bit back too.

"What time is she coming?"

"Well the food will be served at 7pm so probably about 6:30pm."

Milly nodded her head as Emily turned and walked over to where she was sitting, the extra height from the counter meant that they were now the same height.

"You're going back to work tomorrow?"

"Yes and you've got a meeting with the doctor and then Elizabeth will pick you up and then in the afternoon we've got an appointment at the school."

Milly scrunched up her face but it was going to be a different school and she wouldn't be boarding, it was a private school but at the end of the day she would be at home with Emily or Elizabeth.

"Ok I think that I can handle that."

"Good, I don't expect you to start back at school for a week or two but we may as well get the paperwork sorted."

Milly nodded her head as she held out her hands and Emily helped her get down off the counter.

"So I'll lay the table then?"

"That would be great Milly thanks."

Emily smiled as Milly wandered off, she knew that they had a long road ahead of them but the first steps had been positive and she and Milly were both determined to keep it like that.

_**Fin.**_


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